Former Duarte school teacher acquitted on child molestation charges

PASADENA – A jury Friday acquitted a former Duarte elementary school teacher of charges that he molested five students over more than a decade, officials said.

After more than a week of deliberation, the Pasadena Superior Court jury found Wade Bughman, 43, of Monrovia not guilty of all nine counts of child molestation, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s spokeswoman Jane Robison said.

Bughman, a longtime teacher at Beardslee Elementary School in Duarte, was arrested June 17, 2010, after five students and former students leveled allegations of sexual abuse dating back to 1998.

“Obviously, we’re thrilled and overjoyed that the jury acquitted an innocent man, in our opinion,” said Los Angeles-based attorney Leonard Levine, who represented Bughman.

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