Ex-Teacher Guilty on 30 Counts of Lewdness, Molesting Pupils

A former city schoolteacher who portrayed himself as a man besieged by sex-curious children was convicted today of committing 19 felony acts of lewd conduct and 11 acts of misdemeanor child molestation in his third-grade classroom at a South-Central Los Angeles school.

After deliberating four days, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury acquitted Terry E. Bartholome of four felonies and one misdemeanor and was unable to reach a verdict on 10 other counts, including charges that the defendant raped and orally copulated a first-grader at the 68th Street School in the spring of 1983.

Bartholome, 49, who admitted on the stand that he masturbated on two occasions in front of students but denied molesting his accusers, stared straight ahead as the clerk read the lengthy verdict.

Judge Fred Woods declared a mistrial on the 10 counts on which the jury was deadlocked and set sentencing for Aug. 4.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen Weast said Bartholome faces a maximum of 44 years in state prison on the felony counts alone.

Jury foreman John W. Kent, 37, a fabricator at Lockheed Corp., said the most significant evidence against Bartholome was his admission that he had masturbated to ejaculation in the classroom.

Kent said jurors had deadlocked 7 to 5 on the rape charge and 9 to 3 on the oral copulation count because some “couldn’t put the child and Mr. Bartholome there (in the classroom) at the same time.”

Bartholome taught at 68th Street School from late 1982 until his dismissal in early 1985. He was arrested on May 31, 1985. It took more than a year for school officials to tell police of allegations being made against him.