Teacher Accused of Statutory Rape and Other Offenses
 

Cindy Garner Clifton, 41-year-old middle school reading teacher, is accused of having sex with boys and other offenses. I have only seen a couple of articles from reputable sources.

http://m.wmctv.com/ms/p/a3/59/view.m...ies&news2=Main

From the sound of the article, it seems like this situation has happened in the area before, but I didn't hear about it. If that's true, then this is even more worrisome. It also sounded like the minors weren't completely victims in the situation either. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Also, the attorney's last name is Ballin. I chuckled.

I'm getting really really tired of reading stories like this. WTF are these people thinking? There was a story in Cinci just recently with a female teacher doing the same thing. I think her sentence was 4 years in jail.

Minors are ALWAYS victims in this type of situation. ALWAYS.

Um, no. They're minors! How can you read this very short article and decide based on one sentence that they weren't victims? I doubt you would say the same thing if the teacher was male and the minors female. Boys can be victims too. This is exactly why it's can be so hard for boys (and men, for that matter) to report abuse. It's completely unfair.

ETA: Looks like DrPhil posted the same point while I was typing.

Add to that if the teacher was male and the minors male.

It is ridiculous that people believe boys and men cannot be the victims of sexual abuse (and domestic violence, that other thread).

Victoriana's post sounded like she felt the ARTICLE was saying the minors weren't completely victims; not that it was her personal opinion.

ETA: IDK who these "residents" are, but they need to go sit down somewhere. 53 counts? Holy moly, woman! For how long had this been going?

Yeah, what is up with that? The minors were victims, as all minors are victims when pursued by older people (who should know better!)

I've seen this line of thinking when people hear about cases with older teens (male and female) but really- a teacher? The teacher should know better, whereas the kids will be kids and fully not comprehend why it's a bad idea to be involved with an adult (because they think they are adults in their minds, but that doesn't make them mature enough to be dealing with a 40 something year old in a "peer" type relationship.)

We had two teachers in the city across the river within the past 2 years. One male, one female. The female worked on these young girls by telling them what they wanted to hear, but she was really trying to bait them into three-ways with her and her husband. That's really sick. I don't believe much came from either case- they can't teach anymore, but it pretty much amounts to a slap on the wrist- and THAT is not fair. If Joe Pervert is texting an underage kid sexual stuff, it will be dealt with much harsher than if it's a teacher, at least that's how it seemed to pan out with these cases. Teachers should, if anything, be held to a higher standard (like jail, not probation!)

I must respectfully disagree with the idea that teachers should be treated differently than any other adult who assaults and abuses a child. ALL of them should be treated as the morally reprehensible criminals they are. There are no shades of grey when looking at this type of abuse. It is always wrong, and the perpetrators need to be held accountable and our children need to be protected. It's the nature of the beast that those accused of these crimes will be in a position of authority over the children they abuse, whether it be youth group leader, church leader, relative or coach. That's how they get access; that's how children can be forced into silence.

That's what I'm saying- it seems in a lot of these cases, the teachers get some bogus probation deal and a "you can't teach anymore" slap, while others charged with similar crimes get jail sentences. At least that is the way it seems to work out around here. Debra LaFarve (sp?) comes to mind as another well-known case. If one person goes to jail for that offense, everyone should. It's like teachers are less accountable, because they are (supposed to be) nice and educated and polite and not dirty and weird like "stereotype" of a pedophile. A pedophile is a pedophile, regardless of what they know, how they look, how they present themselves, etc.

Isn't that crazy? How can you say "the minors hold some responsibility, depending on their age." Minors! And minors who are predominantly middle school students, correct?

If victoriana was only talking about the dumb residents, my bad! My response to victoriana should be applied to the dumb residents and not to victoriana.

The way I read the article was that perhaps some of the boys were at the age of consent. The quote about this happening more often is ridiculous to me though. It happened before, people just weren't caught or it wasn't publicized.

It is hard for me to talk about much, but I have a dear friend who was falsely accused and convicted of this type of crime. She is spending four years in prison and it has ruined her life. She was tried by the media and on bulletin boards before she went to trial.

I bring up that point only because it's important to hold true to "innocent until proven guilty." We tend not to do that, especially in these kinds of cases.

I was referring to the part of the article that said "Clifton is accused of providing alcohol to and contributing to the delinquency of a minor." I could see a situation where the minors asked the woman for alcohol, so she got it for them. In that sort of situation, the minor IS partially responsible because they asked for it. I suppose that is what popped into my mind first.

Dr. Phil, I DEFINITELY agree that anyone who is sexually abused, especially minors, are victims in a situation like that. As a victim of sexual abuse personally, I would never say that these kids aren't victims. What happened to them is horrible. I think it could have been prevented had the parents in the town been paying more attention to their kids. Of course now that it has happened, the parents blame them for it. There is nothing I hate more than blaming the victim in a sexual abuse situation.

Well, unless the article is crappy journalism, it said "minors...depending on their age." You can't preface it with "minors" and then say they were at the age of informed consent. Wouldn't that make them no longer minors accordingly to that state's laws?

Thank you for this. My parents' friends have a daughter who went through something extremely similar.