Landen Meadows Residents Forum

Yup, over here

There is more to the story posted today though that explains it a little better. (No need to grab the pitchforks and burning torches just yet)

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/21281555/detail.html

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A middle school custodian is charged with sexual battery after a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools student filed allegations against him.

According to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office, 63-year-old Christopher Gordon was arrested on Monday.

A CMS spokeswoman said Gordon is a janitor at Community House Middle School in south Charlotte, which is where the incident allegedly happened.

A police report states Gordon allegedly hugged a 12-year-old student too tightly. Police sources say the charge stems from an incident in the first week of October when Gordon hugged the student so closely that she felt his genitals.

Gordon's wife attended his court appearance Tuesday and said his family supports him because it's not in his character to do what the girl alleges.

Parents at the middle school said they were surprised to learn about Gordon's arrest in a telephone message Monday night.

"I trust the school will handle it properly," one parent said.

Gordon has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the police investigation.
Investigators are looking into whether anything similar has happened to other students.
Gordon is being held in the Mecklenburg County Jail on $15,000 secured bond.

Hard to say why the custodian was hugging the girl, maybe they are neighbors? Maybe she initiated the contact? Was she upset about something and he was trying to console her? Hopefully he didn't take advantage of a situation to get his jollies.

Hopefully we will get the full details of what happened soon enough. My 12 year old goes there and she heard several different scenarios of what happened from other students and amazingly enough, not one of them is similar to what was in the above news article.

I remember when a male teacher was accused of fondling a female student at CHMS several years ago and he was fired as a result. In the end, it was determined that the student made the incident up because she was upset over a grade she received from the teacher and she decided to pay him back. It is a sad world when 12/13/14 year old kids can make something up and have damaging effects on a school employee's life and future and the public's initial reaction is to "put the pervert away forever". While I agree that we must protect children from predators, I also believe that a thorough investigation is needed before a rush to judgement so as to protect those that could be falsely accused.