Three boys and nine girls claim they were molested my substitute teacher V. Cleon Harper, according to the felony complaint filed against Harper by the Los Angeles County District Attorney.
Harper, who is being held on $1 million bail was scheduled for arraignment at the Pomona courthouse Monday, but that arraignment was postposed until April, 18, according to Sandi Gibbons in the DA’s office.
Meanwhile, friends of Harper turned to this blog to begin a campaign of support for their colleague. This comment was left on an earlier entry:
If your reporter were doing his job he would also have discovered this. The teacher coached the students in writing ‘mysterious’ events about Harper, as a writing exercise. None of the written assignments described any ‘touching’ other than a light touch on the shoulder. It was only after feedback by the teacher and the administrator that children began to talk about other forms of touching. This same class was known for being disruptive to sub teachers in the past. Harper is among the most upstanding people in the Azusa community and this ‘witch-hunt’ is an unparalleled abuse of power and authority by the School district, by Child Protective Services and by the Azusa Police Department. It was a complete over reaction to childish fiction to ‘get back’ at a sub teacher who tried to hold them accountable for their collective mis-behavior.
After hearing child after child testify during the preliminary hearing of Mr. Wonderful, does the “witch hunt” expert have a new opinion of Harper’s innocence? Or, is the previous posting an “Unparalleled abuse” of blog space? Would the “friend of Harper” like to explain how the police manipulated each and every child (10 I think), into testifying in open court, that Harper is a molester? Not a whole lot of difference between Harper’s case and the Santa Monica case is there? Before friends of a chester jump up and lay their character and good names on the table in support of the accused, they might first want to learn what the victims have to say about their esteemed colleagues.
Just curious.