Teacher Smackdown

In Port Charlotte, Florida, Crystal Maria Bashford, 21, was arrested for having sex with a 14-year-old boy. Bashford has been charged with one count of lewd or lascivious battery.

Bashford is a “caretaker” at the Palm Christian Academy, a Chrisitian elementary school. The boy was not a student at the school.

Police say that the boy and Bashford were friends and had sex one time in November 2006 when he was 14 and Bashford was 20. The teen said Bashford invited him to her house to stay the night. He claims they were in her master bedroom, watching television, when she started to talk about having sex.

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Substitute Robert Ashley, 63, will be extradited from Montrose, Colorado to New Mexico for sexual assault on a child. An informant tipped off authorities that Ashley was staying at a Montrose hotel. Deputies took him into custody after an hour long surveillance.

Ashley is accused of hiding a video camera in a backpack to shoot upskirt pictures of young female students. Seems that staff at Atrisco Elementary found the video camera inside a backpack in the teacher’s lounge. The principal, an educational assistant and another teacher viewed the video, and called school district police. The next day a school counselor called the sheriff’s department (Kudos to school officials for acting quickly!)

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In Utah, former first-grade Rosamond Elementary teacher Frank Laine Hall, 37, admitted he sexually abused 11 of his students. He was originally charged with 16 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child for touching 10 girls and a boy at Rosamond Elementary.

Hall pleaded down to 10 counts of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child - a first-degree felony with a penalty of three years to life. Hall also pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree felony sex abuse of a child. He can get up to 15 years in prison for that crime.

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In Bradford, Vermont, Bradford Elementary teacher, Richard Foster, 51, was arrested on five felony counts relating to sexual abuse of a child:

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In Napa, California, former third-grade teacher, Matthew Joseph Shelton, 25, was arrested on misdemeanor sexual abuse charges involving four of his students - specifically four misdemeanor counts of annoying/molesting a child and two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery.

He inappropriately touched two eight-year-old and two nine-year-old female students at Phillips Edison Elementary School. Each child was assaulted in the classroom. The girls reported the molestation to their parents, who notified the school. Shelton was immediately put on leave while police conducted an investigation.

Shelton has no previous criminal record.

Matthew Joseph Shelton, molesting a child, sexual battery, child abuse, sexual abuse

Aren’t you tired of hearing about teachers getting arrested for child porn? Boy, I sure am. But the arrests keep happening!

In Neptune, New Jersey, FBI agents found child porn on Middle Road School elementary teacher Robert Cholowinski’s home computer. Cholowinski, 46, told agents that he’s been trading in child pornography over the Internet for several years now.

He’s been suspended with pay from teaching third grade. Authorities told school officials that there is no evidence suggesting that there were any pictures of students involved.

Cholowinski’s bail has been set at $250,000. Guess down at the Shore everything is NOT all right.

Robert Cholowinski, child porn, Neptune New Jersey

Last February, Okte Elementary School first grade teacher Christopher Culver, 32, told state troopers that he touched the genitals of six young boys in his classroom. He also told them that he became sexually aroused when he touched the boys, and that he needed help.

Now the confession can be used as evidence against him at his trial. The judge concluded that Culver “waived his 5th Amendment right to remain silent and his waiver was knowing and voluntary.”

Culver has been indicted on 49 felonies including 29 felony sexual abuse counts related to children under the age of 11. After his arrest other victims among his past and present students accused his of molesting them. In all, there are eight victims. One incident went back to 2003.

Since his arrest, Culver separated from his wife. They have a young child together. He’s also under paid leave from his teaching job.

He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $50,000 bail. Culver could get up to 20 years in state prison if convicted.

Clive Culver, sexual abuse, child abuse, molesting kids

In Santa Barbara, California, El Camino Elementary School teacher Martin Corral, 36, was arrested for committing a lewd act on a child. His victim was an 11-year-old boy.

The molestation did not take place at school, but at Corral’s home. Corral had befriended the boy’s family and had their consent to bring the boy home.

Corral taught academically at-risk students and was very popular. Parents and students are shocked and saddened by his arrest and know Corral as a dedicated teacher and an active member of the community.

Ventura Police believe there might be more victims out in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, and ask that you call detectives at 805-339-4465 if you have any information.

Coral has posted $50,000 bail.

Martin Corral, child abuse, lewd act on child, El Camino Elementary School

In Omaha, Nebraska, Florence Elementary third-grade teacher Krista Crosby, 34, was arrested and will be fired for bringing heroin, marijuana and drug paraphernalia to school.

A paraprofessional that worked with Crosby found the bag of narcotics and brought it to school officials who contacted police. She was then arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance-heroin, possession of marijuana less than an ounce, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Her bond was set at $25,000.

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In Tacoma, Washington, Jennifer Leigh Rice, 31, was charged with kidnapping and raping a 10-year-old male McKinley Elementary School student. Rice pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree kidnapping with sexual motivation.

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In Glasford, Illinois, Illini Bluffs Elementary School principal, John Walker, 42, was arrested for aggravated criminal sexual assault for raping a 20-year-old woman at a party.

A notice for termination and hearing is scheduled by the Illini Bluffs School District’s Board of Education. Walker is currently on his second 10-day paid suspension. Parents were hoping that Walker be fired on the spot.

The school board is now looking for an interim school principal. I’m not so sure I’d want the job considering that Walker’s arrest is the second sexual assault arrest at the school in past six months. Illini Bluffs teacher Ian McDonald is accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student.

Must be something in the water.

Principal John Walker, aggravated sexual assault, Illini Bluffs School District’s Board of Education, teacher Ian McDonald

Last April, teacher John Hawthorne, 42, was charged with eight felony counts of lewd acts with a child. He was accused of molesting five female students in his Martin Luther King Jr. Academy class in Salinas, California. He was out on $800,000 bail when prosecutors said they found child pornography on his personal computer.

The police say that have identified other victims and more occurrences than they already knew about. 13 girls between the ages of 10 and 11 have come forward to say that Hawthorne molested them.

The prosecutor said he could not discuss the details of the new charges, which were the result of an ongoing investigation by the Salinas Police Department. But boy do they sound serious especially since the original victims’ testimony sounded a little hinkey - stuff about over-the-clothes touching appearing to be misinterpreted hugs.

This is a case we’ll have to keep a close eye on. Stay tuned.

John Hawthorne, child molestation, child pornography, sexual abuse, Martin Luther King Jr. Academy

When I hear of a case like this one where a jury dismisses most of the charges and a judge dismisses testimony, I have to wonder if a teacher accused of sexually molesting kids is innocent.

After three days of deliberation, a Syracuse, New York jury acquitted teacher, Albert Scerbo, 45, on 17 of the 19 charges that he molested seven and eight-year-old Native American girls in his class at Onondaga Nation School. The judge dismissed the charges pertaining to seven of the 17 girls because they had changed their accounts or said they had lied to police.

Racial tensions in the classroom also make me wonder about this case. According to the testimony, a fifth-grade girl called Scerbo a “white Christian cracker” the day before she told the school nurse that he touched her and other girls inappropriately. Was her outburst caused by anger over the molestation or was she acting out over race?

The facts are that Scerbo would let the girls sit on his lap in the darkened classroom while they watched movies. He admits this was stupid. I agree. So when one girl testified that Scerbo would put his hands on her stomach then touch her private parts, and that made her mad, well it sounded pretty truthful to me.

As Chief Gibson of the Onondaga Indian Nation told the media, two convictions out of 19 will take Scerbo away from teaching and being around kids. And if he molested one girl why not three, five or 17?

Innocent or guilty? What do you think?

Albert Scerbo, sexual molestation, sexual abuse, Onondaga Nation School

In Pooler, Georgia, Saint Andrew’s School music teacher Joshua Evans, 25, was arrested on federal charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and child pornography charges.

Since his home was searched by the FBI, US Immigration, GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation), and the Pooler Police Department I’m guessing that there’s more to this story than Evans looking at underage girls on the internet. Seems that Evans was trying to arrange to have sex and get nude photos of someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl. Whoops!

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In Sturgis, South Dakota, school bus driver Stanton Day, 65, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual contact with a child younger than 16 and three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Day would park his bus in a subdivision on his route and rape the 10-year-old girl. The sexual contact took place twice.

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