"Teacher Accused of Molestation"

I’ve learned through my past experiences and I continue to learn from others experiences that you simply can’t trust anyone. A teacher in Contra Costa County has been awaiting trial since October of last year for the accusations of sexually molesting a 14 year old student of his. Thursday, September 22, he plead not guilty to 25 sex felony crime charges and awaits trial on Jan 23. If he is found guilty he is sentenced to 20 years in prison. Michael Merrick is a father/husband and a teacher at Lafayette Middle School (although he is now suspended from school until conviction) and is currently in custody with a bail of 1 million dollars. A family with best intentions came to Michael Merrick and hired him under the impression that he would be helping their daughter keep up in class and maintain grades. A series of evidence is against him such as 100’s of inappropriate text messages sent to the girl and his own DNA found on the classroom sofa. When I hear about situations like this it gets me upset and in disgust. First of all how could a father have intentions such as the ones he is convicted of, when he has children himself. Weather he did molest this young girl or not he should not have even been texting her in the first place, that right there just makes me question his innocence? Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t it illegal for teachers to have an outside relationship with a student? It may sound crucial but hearing this case I am not surprised, I know of and have heard of many situations where children get molested in their own families by step-fathers, uncles, cousins etc. You never know about people now-a-days, don’t judge a book by its cover.