Posted on 05/15/2011 11:51:00 AM PDT by rawhide
A PE teacher falsely accused of molesting a 12-year-old schoolgirl has spoken of his pain at telling his children he was going to be arrested.
Sean Lanigan was pulled out of a class in Fairfax, Virginia, and told he was going to be arrested for allegedly carrying out the offences.
In reality his 'crimes' had been invented and the schoolgirl bore a grudge against him.
Despite being cleared of all the offences, the teacher’s $125,000 legal fees still haven’t been repaid by the state and he is struggling to get his life back.
The young girl claimed that the teacher had taken him into the gym and said he was going to ‘treat her like a Queen’ and briefly groped her.
This line, it turns out is a lyric from one or her favourite music bands, the Ataris.
He had told his ‘victim’ off for being abusive on the school bus and the girl apparently told her friends: ‘Mr Lanigan’s a jerk. I’m going to make him pay.’
When it came to trial, the jury took only 47 minutes to decide he was not guilty. Such a short deliberation in a child sex abuse case is extremely rare.
They described it as an ‘easy decision’ since ‘there was no evidence.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The same thing happened to a friend of mine. He was exonerated but the legal fees were terrible and the entire ordeal was extremely stressful. It can happen to anyone.
The girl should be locked up untill she is 18.
Child Protective Services in the state of Washington has a simple philosophy. If a child states that his parents are abusive he is telling the truth. If the child refuses to accuse his parents he has been intimidated, coerced or brainwashed by the parents. If the child accuses a CPS worker or school “counselor” of misdeeds they are liars.
Once a man is falsely accused of rape, there is no getting away from the stigma, short of getting away, where no one knows about it, and that is impossible these days. The girl and her family should be made to pay every penny this has cost him, and a lot more.
I think that the girl’s parents should be responsible for his bills.
Fairfax County ping!
There is no way to protect yourself from this type of charge.
Never being alone in a classroom or anywhere else with any child makes no difference. The lies can be spread and you have no defense.
The girl’s family should be made to pay the legal fees and she ought to spend a couple of years behind bars.
Yes, and for pain and suffering! I hope they a blanket insurance policy?
Teaching just is not a job for men anymore.
Frightening story. Although we must protect youngsters from adult sexual predators, there has to be some balance. The 12-year-old girl should have had her accusation better verified by the police before they moved on Mr. Lanigan. The concept that if a child (especially at that age) makes an allegation of sexual abuse by an adult, especially a teacher, it has to be taken at face value with scant investigation is absurd and can lead to this kind of tragedy for an innocent man. Like the jurors that quickly acquitted him, I too hope this man is someday able to ‘get his life back’. Even if he does, it will never be the same. All because some pouting 12-year-old girl decided to ‘make him pay’ for ‘speaking harshly’ to her. Insane - and very, very wrong.
What about making the law makers who created the monster and opened the door to easy abuse, pay?
“Teaching just is not a job for men anymore. “
Most environments where women, feminists and liberals rule are not safe places for men to work anymore.
The TSA actually is allowed to grope 12 year old girls.
better yet, she should have to pay the $125,000.
Why should state taxpayers pay for HER crime?
(set up like a student loan, so it can’t be removed by bankruptcy).
...and while i don’t support making her parents liable, i do note that many liberals want to punish parents, even to removing their tax deduction for simply having an “obese” child. or threatening to punish parents with jail for students being truant.
if sex crimes are severely punished as they should be, then false accusations of them should be equally punished. a destroyed life is a destroyed life.
and there are innocent men, with families, sitting in jail... who speaks for them?
Hooray for the jury!
Has the girl been expelled?
If my child ever accused me of such a crime and CPS came to investigate, my first action would be to give them an empty suitcase and tell them to go fill it with her clothes.
Female circumcision:
It’s not just for moslems anymore.
I’d like to add to that list the prosecutor as well. WTF is he doing prosecuting people with no evidence? This guy is another Nifong.
It happens more than we think too. Years ago a family firend happened to have car troubel on the wrong road. A 14 yo gilr who lived close by told her Mother she had been raped by a stranger and he ended up arrested and went through several years of h*ll because of this girls lies. When it finally went to trial his lawyer was ab;e to get her to breakdown and admit she lied. Guess she had slept with her boyfriend and was afriad of what migth happen if she got pregnant so made up a lie just incase. The family lost everything because everyone believed the young girl. They ended up with thousands of dollars in legal fees and the girl walked away scot free....just doesn’t seem fair that that could happen that way but it does.
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.