Guilty! Kristen Goodwin Roush, Mission Viejo, California (arrested Oct 2014)

Orange County Sheriff's Department news release via Twitter:

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This teacher was cleared of all the child molestation charges levied against her. The boy in question provided statements to his parents and the police that were later proven false. He had previously lied to the teacher when he told her he had his parents permission to have a ride in her car (which also contained her children), and upon driving the boy home to the front of his house (something people with nefarious intent always do is to stop in front of the house in plain view), his mother freaked out and had her husband call the police rather than having a rational discussion with the teacher first. As the mother was screaming at the teacher and making physical threats the teacher tried to explain that the boy told her he had permission from his parents to be in the car to which the mother replied "He lied, all kids lie, you should know that".

When the sheriff investigator arrived, he harshly interrogated the boy for a great length of time to get the boy to make statements to the effect that the teacher had touched him. Eventually, the claim that was made is that the teacher touched his knee under her desk during class and that no one in the class could see. If the sheriff had actually done an investigation and visited the teacher's classroom, he would have instantly known this was a false statement. The teacher's chair (a large executive chair) does not fit under her desk, and while students are allowed to sit at her desk while the teacher is standing at the front of the class, students are not allowed behind her desk while she herself is seated at the desk. This desk is situated in such a way that there is intentionally no privacy, which was done for the protection of the teacher and the students. The desk lines up to an outside door that is always open, and in direct line of site to another classroom within a pod so that the teacher of the other classroom and Mrs. Roush can always see what is going on in each other's rooms. In addition, there is a glass window directly behind the desk that contains a workspace used by teachers and students throughout the day. The desk has no privacy, and due to the size of the desk and the two stools students may sit on, it would be very obvious if the teacher had to either reach up to a stool at desk height to touch a leg, or reach over the arms of her chair to lean way over to the other stool which sits well below the height of the teacher's chair. If the teacher is at her desk, students may sit at the ends of the desk, not behind the desk, because that is when the teacher is either grading papers or working on the computer. This just didn't happen.

The DA found the boys statements were not credible and was not going to call him as a witness. The DA also admitted that had this case come to him first, he would never have filed charges. The boys mother even admitted weeks after the call to the police that she had not looked at her son's cell phone before, during, or even subsequently after the day she called the police. She wasn't concerned about anything on the cell phone. The only reason this case went this far was due to the profiling of the Sheriff Investigator who was called to the boy's home. The teacher was kept for 5 hours in a hot car waiting to be interviewed by the sheriff, thinking that once they realized the misunderstanding with the parent, this would be over. Instead the officer decided, that because the teacher was young, pretty, and blonde that something must be going on and he was going to prove it, even if he had to coerce false tatements from the boy. The witness statements he received did not support any relationship between the student and teacher, but he did in fact get witness statements, which he used in the press release to make it appear to the public that there was evidence. The evidence on the cell phone was a selfie photo taken by the boy on the last day of school where the boy pulled the teacher into the photo and had his arm around the teacher. The teacher did not have her arm around him. The teacher took many selfie photos with students that day, and gave many side arm hugs to her students at the end of the school year and at promotion. The class had an Instagram site, which is encouraged by the school and many teacher use, so there were texts on this site. The conversations made to this boy were no different that the ones the teacher made to dozens of her other students. The Sheriff even received a call from a student who was this boys friend and was always with this boy when he was around the teacher, and he and his parent stated there was no relationship between the student and teacher.

Rather than following proper protocol after an arrest, the Sheriff called the Teacher Credentialing Board on the day of the arrest to have the teacher's pay suspended. This is not to happen until after the arraignment and charges are actually filed. Up until the arraignment no one knows what the charges are, not the teacher or her attorney. The teacher's attorney didn't even get to see any "evidence" until well after the arraignment, which was almost a month after the arrest. This Sheriff made it his personal mission to ruin this teacher's life. Once the DA received the case, it became obvious that due to the political climate in Orange County and the high media attention this case achieved, he was not going to be able to just dismiss the entire case. It is an elected position after all.

After 10 months of fighting the case, and the huge emotional and financial toll it was taking, Mrs. Roush agreed to a plea deal of misdemeanor battery so she could move forward with her life, rather than continuing to fight for complete exoneration which could take another two years. Unfortunately the DA and the School District Attorney colluded to require Mrs. Roush's resignation before the DA would dismiss the lewd and lascivious charges that were filed. This was done so that Mrs. Roush could not claim the backpay and accrued sick pay that she was entitled to receive had the charges been dismissed first, and then the school district launch their own investigation. Again, out of order from proper protocol. Since Mrs. Roush does admit to giving students hugs, and those hugs can be considered battery, she agreed to the plea. From the beginning when the DA offered other deals, Mrs. Roush said, "I am the only one here who has been honest the whole time, and I am not going to plead to something I did not do."

For a follow-up on this story see the OC Register Article from September 18, 2015, and a KTLA interview with Mrs. Roush on September 21, 2015.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/roush-683480-molestation-charges.html
http://ktla.com/2015/09/21/mission-viejo-teacher-cleared-of-lewd-acts-charges-speaks-out/

 

Thanks for the update Belle. If true, and I'm taking your word for it and reading between the lines in the referenced articles, what a tragedy for her and her family. It's scary how in the blink of an eye one can get quickly sucked into a nightmarish quagmire like this. And it's truly pathetic how over zealous and self-centered individuals can become when personally invested in a particular outcome. I hope Mrs. Roush can successfully get past this; though the scars, I'm sure, will remain forever. And I hope the morons that forced this nightmare reap what they sow someday.

 

Thanks for the updates!