Week in Review : EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN THE NEWS : COURTS : Teacher Trial Splits Parents
Parents of dance students are divided in their opinions about Anthony Sellars, a Huntington Beach ballet teacher accused of sexually molesting a 15-year-old student.
Sellars, whose trial began Tuesday in Westminster Superior Court, has pleaded innocent.
Some of the parents support him. “We know he’s innocent because we are there (at the academy) all the time,” said Linda Pansini of Huntington Beach, who has two daughters studying with Sellars, 36. “It’s like a second home to us. We know what goes on there.”
But one mother who asked not to be identified said, “We feel betrayed, because Mr. Sellars was just like one of our family.”
The student claimed Sellars molested her between January and June, 1984, when she took private classes at the academy. She agreed to cooperate with the police in 1985, officials said.
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