Teacher Faces Trial on Molestation Charges

A second-grade teacher charged with five counts of molesting children was ordered Tuesday to stand trial by a Superior Court judge who said that the allegations, if true, are inexcusable.

Judge James M. Brooks said that, at first blush, the allegations against Jerome Thompson Wilhoit, 36, seemed minor.

Since Wilhoit’s arrest in May, dozens of supporters from his church and some from Wallace R. Davis Elementary School in Santa Ana, where Wilhoit taught, have decried the charges against a man they say is an affectionate teacher.

Wilhoit’s only mistake was to hug his students or blow on a child’s stomach, supporters have said.

“But that was just the tip of the iceberg,” Brooks said at the end of Tuesday’s preliminary hearing.

Brooks said he changed his mind after hearing that Wilhoit’s principal previously had warned him to curb inappropriate touching and that Wilhoit nonetheless continued to caress students.

“He was told, ‘Don’t cross that line,’ and he crossed it,” Brooks said.

Trial is set for Sept. 1.

Wilhoit’s attorney, Milton Grimes, said his client is a loving, affectionate man who has not committed a crime and has a “flower-child” mentality.

“It’s always an uphill battle when allegations are made by children--and you want to believe the children. . . . But the evidence didn’t come close to establishing the elements of the crime,” Grimes said.

During the preliminary hearing, Grimes pointed out that three children interviewed in May by a social worker gave varying accounts of the same incident. All three said they saw Wilhoit touching a girl, but their statements differed about some details.

Wilhoit’s wife, Rosalie, was in the courtroom during the hearing, flanked by friends and supporters.