James Raymond Jr.
Posted by: Webmaster in Band/Music, Elementary Schools, Hall of Shame, ME-FV, Maine
(10/31/07 - Initial BBT Report)
James Raymond Jr., 26, a music teacher at Park Avenue Elementary and East Auburn Community schools in Auburn, Maine has been charged with unlawful sexual touching of a student.
Raymond reportedly came to the attention of authorities when the alleged victim reported an incident to school officials who called in police. Thus far police are not releasing information on the age or sex of the alleged victim.
Raymond who was arrested Tuesday afternoon at his home was released from the Androscoggin County Jail after posting $5,000 cash bail.
Raymond who has been a music teacher in the Auburn school system for five years has been placed on administrative leave.
Auburn police indicate that the investigation is still ongoing and that police will be interviewing other students making sure that there are no other incidents requiring investigation.
Update 11/01/07:
News media reports indicate that police alleged that Raymond told them:
He sometimes put his hand up the skirts of young girls in his class.
That he had an attraction to female students from kindergarten age to third grade
That 95 percent of the time he was satisfied to get a hug from a student. It was the remaining 5 percent of the time that posed a problem
There’s a little voice telling him to engage in that behavior. On those occasions, he tries to control himself, but he is unsuccessful some of the time.
Most incidents occurred during music class because all the girls would want to sit next to him.
He never touched the vaginal areas of the girls.
A federal agency was investigating him for his online activity involving child pornography and that he had bought memberships at child pornography Web sites.
It was further reported that the alleged victim, a 7-year-old girl first reported the alleged improper touching to her mother who was reluctant to report it to authorities and that the girl reported it to the school administration herself.
Reportedly Raymond told police he did not recall touching the girl on the day she says it happened in early October.
04/30/08 - Arrested On Bail Violation
James Raymond has been arrested and jailed upon an allegation that he approached a child at a Wal-Mart in violation of bail conditions.
It is alleged that an off-duty police detective spotted Raymond in the Wal-Mart and that he was talking to a child that is younger than 16, a violation of the bail conditions imposed upon Raymond.
08/21/08 - Guilty Verdict
An Androscoggin County Superior Court jury has found James Raymond Jr. guilty on all counts.
Raymond was found guilty on two counts of unlawful sexual touching and three counts of assault.
Testifying in his own defense on Wednesday Raymond told the jury that he lied when he told detectives that he was attracted to young girls. Raymond testified that he only confessed in order to end the interview in which he felt intimidated.
No word yet on a sentencing date.
References:
Teacher Found Guilty Of Molesting Students (08/21/08)
Jury Deliberations Continue In Music Teacher Trial (08/21/08)
Former teacher says he’s innocent (08/21/08)
Former teacher in child sex case back in jail (04/30/08)
Teacher told cop of urges for girls (11/01/07)
Teacher faces sex charge (10/31/07)
Auburn Teacher Facing Sex Charge (10/31/07)
Teacher facing unlawful sex charge (10/31/07)
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Entries (RSS)
September 7th, 2008 at 4:38 am
hey, well this is my opinion i knew him when i was in the leavitt marching band for a year, in no way did i ever think he was a creep, yes he was ’socially’ strange, but what bandie isnt? anyways, i never noticed anything and i guess i’m sitting on the fence with this one, i dont see him as the type to harm a child, however the fact still remains that he claimed to hear voices, instread of jail has anyone heard of a treatment facility?
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 am
Making excuses? Me? No, I don’t think so. This case is based on his confession that is the only evidence. Again the cops have gotten confessions from innocent people, that is a fact. The important information is how long was the interview, what type of stress was he under. Did he ask for a lawyer?
Another point is that the mother didn’t think anything of it, the article doesn’t say where on the leg he touch her, but it does say that he did not touch the private areas.
This is a witch hunt.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:24 am
GURU? stop making excuses for the people who have been arrested. and he got himself in hot water.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Nothing sexual happened, he touched her leg, but not the privates. That doesn’t sound like abuse. I think he was telling the truth that the police forced a confession out of him, how many hours did they interview him for? These cops have been known to interview a person get a confession, just to be cleared years later with DNA testing. Innocent people do confess to crimes with the cops hammering a person for 14-18 hours straight, any person would crack.
The bail violation sounds like a set-up, an off-duty detective saw him. Notice it didn’t say how long he talked to her, I am willing to bet it was hi, how are you bah, bah. What are the odds of this just happening, no it was a sting operation, I wouldn’t doubt if cops had the girl go up to him.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
My friends (Deleted by site admin) and I disagree with a few people who posted comments. We believe that he is a porn who deserves to be on this website. He was our music teacher for 5 years and we always thought of him as a creep. The girl named sarah said she has 10 people who will back her up. Well I have 25+ people backing me up.
(Deleted by site admin) I believe that he needs to be slapped into his senses. (By the way, I am a girl. I just hang iut with boys.)