Hearing Starts in Teacher’s Child Molestation Case

A Santa Ana teacher charged with child molestation whisked a little girl off her feet and blew on her tummy, rubbed backs and kissed a child on the mouth, investigating police testified Friday.

The testimony came during the first day of a preliminary hearing for Jerome Thompson Wilhoit, 36, who faces five felony counts involving three children.

Wilhoit, who has pleaded not guilty, was flanked in court by his wife, Rosalie, and a dozen supporters, including former students. The supporters say they are eager to help exonerate the teacher, who is free on bail, and characterize him as an affectionate and fun-loving person whose behavior with his students was never sexual.

The first alleged incident occurred in February while Wilhoit was substitute teaching at Harvey Elementary School in Santa Ana. Police Det. Thomas Marty testified that Wilhoit picked up a 6-year-old girl “in his arms, cradled her and presented her to the class as his baby. He then lifted her shirt up past her breast and blew on her stomach.”

The detective said the little girl was upset and told her mother, who told the principal, who questioned Wilhoit. The principal later told him he was no longer welcome to substitute there.

An adult classroom aide also told police that she saw Wilhoit hugging children and blowing into the ear of one little girl after brushing her hair behind her ears, Marty said.

Two other girls at Wallace R. Davis Elementary School, where Wilhoit taught, were helping him straighten his classroom during lunch when he rubbed their backs under their shirts, Marty testified. He said Wilhoit also “pulled [one of the girls] towards him and kissed her on the mouth.”

Another Santa Ana police officer, Mario Corona, testified that while he was interviewing more than a dozen students at Davis Elementary, a girl said Wilhoit had touched her inappropriately. Corona said he and another officer had gone to the school after the principal received a similar report from another female student.

Wilhoit’s attorney, Milton Grimes, grilled Corona about the extent of his experience. The officer had been working as a child abuse investigator for a few months at the time.

The hearing was stopped when Grimes learned he had not been given a police report needed to help him prepare a cross-examination of Marty. It will conclude Tuesday, when Municipal Judge James Brooks is expected to decide whether the evidence merits a trial.

If so, Wilhoit’s pastor said outside court, Wilhoit will be exonerated.

The testimony “can sound disconcerting at first, but I really believe the truth wins over,” said Anthony Boger, pastor at Good Samaritan Seventh Day Adventist Church in Westminster. He blamed the situation on “a world where there’s a lot of mistrust.”

“You have to prove whether someone had sexual, lascivious intent,” he said. “I’m sure there was no sexual intent.”