RSSMen and women who work with children and teenagers can sometimes face the unthinkable: an accusation of abuse from one of their young charges. When this happens, the worker’s personal relationships and professional future can be placed in severe jeopardy. If convicted, an educator could be placed on the sex offender registry and be limited in where he or she can live and work.
Recently in Hesperia, a middle school campus assistant was accused of engaging in lewd acts with a 15-year-old girl. The 28-year-old man was arrested on August 15 for committing lewd acts on a child; his bail is currently set at $750,000. The employee of Hesperia Unified School District is alleged to have behaved inappropriately with the student for a period of about a year. Many of the parents at the school found out about the situation via a statement released to parents.
Many sex crime cases, including those that center on relationships between students and teachers or other school workers, can be difficult to prove. Some involve differing “he said, she said” versions of events, while others may have occurred in the past and left little evidence either way. Prosecutors today will often look for evidence in the form of text messages, phone calls, emails and other traceable forms of communication between two parties.
In the Hesperia case, detectives are actively looking for more information. Witness accounts are extremely important in sex crimes cases; an investigation can benefit tremendously from third parties who can fill in the blanks of an evolving account of what really happened.
There are several defenses available to those on the receiving end of a false sex crimes allegation. These can include the defendant’s reasonable belief that an act was consensual, or a false claim from the alleged victim. In addition, any physical contact that actually took place may not fall under the elements of the purported crime.
Teachers and other workers accused of sex crimes have much to lose if a conviction follows an arrest. Contact L.A. criminal defender Jonathan I. Kelman at 310.286.1218 for more information on constructing a viable defense.