Teacher Enters Not Guilty Plea in Molestation Case
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A Santa Ana elementary school teacher pleaded not guilty Thursday to molesting three students.
Jerome Thompson Wilhoit, 36, also was ordered to appear in court again Tuesday for a pretrial hearing and on May 21 for his preliminary trial. Municipal Judge Charles Margines set his bail at $100,000.
Ken Schreiber, Wilhoit’s attorney, said he would ask for a reduction in bail at the hearing if Wilhoit remains at Orange County Jail.
“Obviously, he maintains his innocence,” Schreiber said. “This case was grossly under-investigated and grossly over-filed.”
Wilhoit, a first-year teacher at Wallace R. Davis Elementary School, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of molesting two 7-year-old girls and a 9-year-old girl from two elementary schools.
A former vice president of Wallace Davis’ PTA, Wilhoit was suspended with pay last Friday after a student in his combination second- and third-grade class told the principal he saw Wilhoit touch another student inappropriately.
After a police investigation, Wilhoit was arrested Tuesday and suspended without pay.
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