Teachers Face Charges of Molestation in Separate Cases

By CLAUDIA LUTHER

Oct. 22, 1987 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Two Saddleback Valley Unified School District teachers--one who teaches at an elementary school and the other at a high school--were charged in separate cases Wednesday with molesting students, the county Sheriff’s Department said.

Robert John Webber, 44, of Rancho Santa Margarita, a mathematics teacher at El Toro High School, was charged with three felony counts, two of rape with a foreign object and one of unlawful sexual intercourse, after an investigation by the Sheriff’s Sexual Crimes Detail, according to Lt. Richard J. Olson.

Webber was accused of raping a 16-year-old female student on Aug. 10 and Sept. 23.

Olson said the investigation began after the girl, who was not identified, was heard by fellow students talking about having a relationship with Webber.

Scheduled to Appear Friday

Webber is scheduled to appear in South Orange County Municipal Court on Friday to answer the charges.

The elementary school teacher, Keith Sheldon Milne, 38, was charged with 10 misdemeanor counts of annoying and molesting children under the age of 18. He will appear in South Orange County Municipal Court on Nov. 12.

Milne, who taught in a reading laboratory at Olivewood Elementary School, was arrested after an investigation that began when a student at the school told school administrators that Milne had touched girl students under their blouses and on their shoulders.

The allegations, which involved seven female students, occurred from January to October of this year, Olson said.

The district attorney’s office filed the charges against Milne after an investigation by the Sheriff’s Sexual Crimes Detail.

Olson said that in both cases, all the sexual contact is alleged to have happened on school grounds.

Neither teacher has been arrested, but both men are expected to surrender soon to face the charges, Olson said. Neither man could be reached for comment.

Olivewood Principal Robert Gaebel said both Webber and Milne were removed from teaching after the investigations started.