Click here for update on the dismissal of all molestation charges against Kristen Michelle Roush
A Mission Viejo junior high school teacher has pleaded not guilty to committing lewd acts with a 14-year-old male student and has vehemently denied to the media that she has ever done anything inappropriate with any student.
“I'm completely innocent of all the charges,” Roush told TV station KTLA Friday outside Newport Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, where she pleaded not guilty to four felony counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts that could send her to state prison for 12 years with a conviction.
]
Kristen Michelle Roush Accused of Getting Much Too Close to One of Her Jr. High Students
“I put students first all the time,” Roush continued, “and I live my life in a way that shows I could not have done any of these things that are alleged against me.”
Her lawyer added, “We look forward to a battle in court.” David Wohl claimed the entire case stems from an allegation that Roush put her hand on the teen's knee.
“There's absolutely nothing of a sexual nature whatsoever,” Wohl told the Orange County Register.
Calling his client “an exemplary human being,” Roush's other attorney, Paul Wallin, called the state's case against her “unbelievably weak.”
“It's alleged she touched a boy on (his) thigh and she vehemently denies it,” Wallin told the Reg. “She has no prior record. These false allegations destroy a person's life.”
When the 34-year-old eighth grade teacher at La Paz Intermediate School in Mission Viejo was arrested at her Aliso Viejo home in October, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said nothing about her having touched a boy's knee or thigh.
The boy's parents tipped deputies off about being concerned with Roush's relationship with their son, sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock said at the time. A month-long investigation that followed involved interviews with several witnesses and evidence obtained from the cell phones of the teacher and student, the sheriff's spokesman added.
Roush, who is on unpaid administrative leave, is married with two daughters.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.
all drugs here canadian pharmacy all in one pharmacy all med pharmacy