I'm sure the teacher's union will be supporting him.
Posted on 08/25/2005 10:51:08 AM PDT by SmithL
A Yuba City Unified School District administrator and career educator was arrested and accused of molesting a teenage boy, police said Wednesday.
Derek Earl Link, 46, of the 600 block of Hughes Avenue, Yuba City, was arrested Tuesday night at the Police Department on a Sutter County warrant charging 13 felony counts, including sodomy, oral copulation with a victim under 14 and lewd acts with a victim under 14.
He was booked into the Sutter County Jail. Bail was set at $500,000.
Link manages the Even Start program, a family literacy program for preschool-aged children.
"We find this very disturbing news," said Nancy Aaberg, interim superintendent for the Yuba City Unified School District.
Link was a coordinator who was employed by the district, and his work was not directly linked to children, Aaberg said. He worked in an office on the Bridge Street Elementary School campus that was separate from the school buildings.
Police said little about the case Wednesday and would not disclose how Link met his alleged victim, now 16 years old. They said the allegations were that Link had contact with the boy three to four years ago.
Police spokeswoman Shawna Pavey said the department is investigating whether there were more alleged victims. Pavey would only say that the boy was an acquaintance of Link.
"I don't know the nature of his acquaintance," Pavey said.
Link has been an exemplary employee of the district since his hiring as a program coordinator three years ago, Aaberg said. He earned employee of the month honors at one point. He also worked for the district in the 1990s as a director of special programs before taking out a business license for Link Consulting in 2001.
The Web site for the National Even Start Association said Link has a master's degree in education and worked as an elementary school teacher, vice principal and principal.
He still owns Link Consulting and is currently listed as a member of the association's board of directors representing its Southwest District, according to the Web site.
The school district placed Link on unpaid leave. Aaberg said background checks were made of Link before his hiring, in accordance with district policy.
Appeal-Democrat reporter John Dickey can be reached at 749-4711. You may e-mail him at jdickey@appeal-democrat.com.
I'm sure the teacher's union will be supporting him.
This is the most shocking thing in the whole story. Normally they get paid leave.
I am sure he will sue and get back pay though.
Heck, they'll give him a medal and send him on his way.
if he was a priest this would be the lead story on tonite's national news. as it is, this will probably be the only place it is seen.
if he was a priest this would be the lead story on tonite's national news. as it is, this will probably be the only place it is seen.
Child sex abuse is such a self-perpetuating - and multiplying - phenomenon that it's time for the entire nation to adopt the same type of law that Florida did, to make the first offense punishable by not less than 25 years, and second offense by life. No option for "progressive" nitwit judges. They've proved that they can't measure up to their responsibilities to us.
I'd even be OK with mandatory capital punishment. We must get this crap under control.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.