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Essay / Article on the trial of a teacher and a student - 509
Recording of police interview releasedThis morning, jurors in the case viewed the videotaped interview of the girl with the police. During the interview, which lasted about 90 minutes, the girl detailed the alleged incidents with Groves. Yesterday, the jurors heard it in person. Student testifies discussions with teachers led to 'sex stuff' Former Woodstock educator tried on assault charges By CHRIS REINOLDS Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer Students turned their attention to the classroom Woodstock High School coach Gene R. Groves for chats over donuts and orange juice before the school day begins. But one girl said the friendship eventually went too far when Groves fondled her. “If I didn’t go to class or to lunch, I stayed in his room and talked to him,” she testified Wednesday at Groves’ trial. "If I was late for class, he would write me a pass. We would just talk about family and stuff like that...until it turned into sexual stuff." The daughter, now 17 years old. , said Groves touched her inappropriately twice during the 2000-01 school year. She finally confided in a teacher, who also testified on Wednesday. Groves, 26, of Woodstock, faces sexual assault charges for allegedly having sex with one student and touching another. He is one of three former teachers at the school facing of an investigation into inappropriate relationships with students. Groves, Bradley L. Chapman and Richard Paul Adams II all resigned in the spring of 2001 and lost their teaching certificates in Georgia. The girl said she had a le had a crush on Groves, but that the sexual touching, which occurred during school hours, made her nervous and uncomfortable. She said she first met Groves when she was in first grade and he was a substitute teacher. DeDe Williamson, a former Woodstock High School teacher, testified that she was friends with the girl and tutored her and invited her to her home. Williamson had left her. work after having a baby last year. She said the teen told her about an inappropriate remark Groves made several months before police began their investigation. After Chapman's arrest, Williamson asked the girl if there was anything going on between her and Groves. When the girl told him about the fondling incidents, Williamson told her to tell investigators immediately. "It's sick, very sick. When you're a teacher, you say to society, 'We're going to protect you,'" Williamson testified. , bursting into tears. “They’re just babies.” Bert Love of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department described evidence collected from Groves' home and school computer..