Local Teacher Found Not Guilty of Child Sexual Abuse

Teacher Found Not Guilty of Child Sexual Abuse

In March of 2024, a courageous, 8-year-old third-grade girl came forward to report the sexual abuse she was experiencing at the hands of her third-grade teacher.

That brave act led to many other girls coming forward, saying the same 45-year-old male teacher molested them. The sexual abuse of these young girls was confirmed through hours of forensic interviews by trained professionals.

Numerous evaluations and therapy sessions with highly trained psychologists and detectives concluded that the young girl’s stories were true and factual.

During the trial, numerous brave elementary school girls testified that their third-grade teacher touched them inappropriately. In the end, the jury was deadlocked on several counts, and their teacher was found not guilty on the others.

Maryland Childhood Sexual Abuse Lawyer The Yost Legal Group

The Criminal Justice System Does Not Always Work

The Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office charged Matthew Schlegel with dozens of counts of childhood sex abuse crimes against several young girls who came forward. He was arrested in May 2024 and went to trial in May and June 2025.

Defendant Matthew Schlegel hired not one, but two defense firms to represent him. An Anne Arundel County jury found him not guilty on 18 of 21 charges.

 

The families feel incredibly defeated. The brave young girls who came forward are heartbroken that the jurors did not credit their stories of the molestation they endured.

It’s a sad day when justice does not prevail in the criminal justice system. We want to applaud the brave children and their amazing parents for having the strength to come forward and fight.

There Are Other Ways to Seek Justice and Accountability

During the year between Schlegel’s arrest and the trial, many people’s lives were put on hold.

The young girls, who should have been spending their fourth-grade year with friends, enjoying school, playing sports, and simply being kids, instead faced an entirely different reality.

Their days were filled with therapy sessions, battles with panic attacks and anxiety, and other mental health challenges. They struggled to return to school and extracurricular activities while navigating interactions with detectives, attorneys, and the judicial system.

Meanwhile, Matthew Schlegel was hiring multiple private defense attorneys to put up a defense that called into doubt the testimony of multiple 9- and 10-year-old victims and witnesses.

The accused sex offender’s attorneys argued to the jury that the families of these little girls colluded to influence their children to report their abuse.

Local Teacher, Matthew Schlegel, Found Not Guilty of Child Sexual Abuse

These Brave Girls Saved Future Young Girls from Abuse

The Yost Legal Group’s Cara O’Brien calls this defense “an affront to survivors everywhere. This ironically fabricated defense encourages an abuse-centered culture where trusted adults who prey on children and the institutions that allow it will walk away unscathed, and children will continue to be sexually abused.”

The average age at which a survivor of child sex abuse comes forward is 52. These girls came forward at the ages of 8 and 9. They stopped the next third-grade class at Severna Park Elementary from being sexually abused by their math teacher, Matthew Schlegel.

They acted selflessly and responsibly, knowing the right path to going public would be hard on them.

The Yost Legal Group Will Pursue Holding Severna Park Elementary School Accountable to The Girls Who Were Sexually Abused at School

Unfortunately, the criminal justice system failed these little girls. Nevertheless, the State’s Attorney for Anne Arundel County could have another opportunity to hold Schlegel accountable.

It is possible that more victims could come forward to report that they were abused years earlier by their third-grade math teacher, Schlegel. It is possible that the State’s Attorney’s Office likely did not have all the witnesses available when they filed the original charges.

Survivors of Abuse Come Forward, Your Voice Matters

Even though the defendant was found not guilty of most charges during this initial trial, it’s essential to understand that there are other legal avenues for holding individuals accountable. The fact is that our legal system doesn’t always achieve justice on the first attempt.

Families can explore Title IX proceedings, which ensure the federal right to an education free from sexual harassment.

Additionally, pursuing a civil lawsuit is another potential pathway for seeking justice when the criminal justice system falls short. In a civil case, you choose your legal team.

These little girls are the victims of these horrific acts. But they are also survivors and will continue to fight.

teacher sexual abuse claims from Severna Park Elementary School in Anne Arundel County Maryland

There Are Other Legal Remedies to Seek Justice

The Yost Legal Group is a Maryland law firm representing survivors of institutional childhood sexual abuse.

Institutional sexual abuse is when a minor is under the care and supervision of an institution, religious, government, or corporate-run entity, and is abused. Many institutions fail to protect the minors in their care.

The following is a list of institutional environments where child sex abuse claims happen frequently.

–             Clergy sexual abuse claims

–             Juvenile detention center sexual abuse claims

–             Foster care sexual abuse claims

–             Private and public school sexual abuse claims

–             Athletic coach sexual abuse claims

–             Doctor sexual abuse claims

Legally, no minor can consent to a sexual relationship with an adult. The Yost Legal Group’s child sexual abuse lawyers are committed to protecting the rights of child victims.

Standing Up for Justice for Child Abuse Survivors

If you’re a survivor of child sexual abuse in a Maryland institution, we will file a lawsuit on your behalf. The Maryland Child Victims Act allows victims of childhood abuse to seek justice, no matter how long ago the abuse happened.

To learn about your rights or discuss the possibility of making a sx, contact us for a free and confidential consultation. We accept cases on a no-win, no-fee, or expense basis.

Maryland Sex Abuse Law Firm – Juvenile Detention Sexual Abuse ClaimsChildhood Sexual Abuse Lawyer

Police Officers Charged with Child Sexual Abuse Crimes

The Yost Legal Group Is Representing Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Committed by Maryland Police Officers

The Washington Post recently reported that 1,800 police officers were charged with child sexual abuse crimes between 2005 and 2022. These officers were accused of committing crimes involving sexual abuse against children.

The report highlights a concerning trend within law enforcement agencies across the country. The findings shed light on the issue of abuse of power and trust within the police force.

The information for “Abused by the Badge” is from Bowling Green State University’s Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database. This database is known as the most comprehensive collection of police arrests in the United States. The introduction for the site reads:

“The Police Crime Database includes summary information on 16,563 criminal arrest cases from the years 2005-2018 involving 13,600 individual nonfederal sworn law enforcement officers, each of whom was charged with one or more crimes.

The arrested officers were employed by 4,766 state, local, and special law enforcement agencies located in 1,831 counties and independent cities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

Were you or someone you love sexually abused as a minor by a police officer in Maryland? Thanks to the Child Victims Act of Maryland, you can now file a claim regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

This groundbreaking bill has removed the statute of limitations on reporting childhood sexual abuse.

The compassionate and experienced prison abuse attorneys at The Yost Legal Group are ready to listen and support you. We’re here to help you seek the justice you deserve.

Call or text a prison sexual abuse lawyer today at 410-659-6800.

juvenile jail guards sexually abused inmates in Maryland

Explore 17,000+ Police Arrests in the BGSU Database

With the Police Crime Database, users may search for arrests by location, crime, and victim. Researchers at BGSU discovered over 17,000 state and local officers charged with a crime from 2005 to 2022. The search tool they developed will be helpful for accessing this information.

While large amounts of data can be difficult to parse, the team at BGSU has done a wonderful job designing the website.

They even provide very helpful meta resources such as How-To (video tutorials), Glossary (definitions of common terms), and FAQ (frequently asked questions) sections. Finally, supporting The Post’s claim that this database is the most comprehensive one available, the team at BGSU even provides an in-depth Methods section to explain “How we built the Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database.”

Nearly 18,000 police officers—entrusted with authority, power, and weapons, sworn to protect and serve—have been charged with crimes like assault, drug offenses, and impaired driving. This is truly shocking.

But The Post dug deeper. There was an even bigger story here, and they found it.

woman being arrested by male police officer sexually abused in Baltimore

Thousands of Police Officers Accused of Sexual Abuse Against Minors

The Post found that 1 in 10 of those officers were charged with a crime involving child sexual abuse.”

And that is how we get to the fact that 1,800 police officers were charged with the sexual abuse of a minor between the years of 2005 and 2022.

The number is hard to fathom: 1,800 individual officers in just 17 years of accounting. Even if the same number of offenders showed up in data over twice or thrice as many years, it would still be unacceptable.

It is also worth noting that not every officer was a first-time or one-time offender when officially charged.

What is worse, as The Post points out, is that Bowling Green’s data is technically limited in that they have only tracked new reports, but “not all arrests are reported in the news media.”

As USA TODAY exposed in “Behind the Blue Wall of Silence,” police have a history of protecting themselves and the fraternal order.

Who Polices the Police? Uncovering Abuse Within

When a person needs to report rape or sexual assault, they need to go to the police. But what happens when the person who committed the crime is a police officer? CNN writer Harmeet Kaur explored that question in “Why Some Police Officers Rally Around Their Colleagues – Even When They’re Accused of Committing Crimes.”

Even when officers are charged, tracking criminal cases of police officers can be difficult because other parts of the justice system can get in the way.

As The Post reported, “Some cases were impossible to track because prosecutors struck deals that allowed officers to accept responsibility for their crimes without a conviction being placed on their record. Others were permitted to have their criminal records sealed after meeting certain conditions.”

The Washington Post‘s investigators found that almost 40% of officers convicted of child sex crimes did not go to prison.

Police officers, correctional officers, and guards all have a duty to protect the people in their care. All correctional facilities have a duty to protect inmates.

If you are a victim of sexual abuse while in police custody or in a correctional facility, call us. Victims of child sexual assault can file a failing to protect inmates claim. Sexual assault cases like these, cases involving sexual abuse in prisons, must stop.

Victims of sexual assault in prison can now report abuse, regardless of when it occurred, to pursue justice and compensation.

teenager being arrested by male police officer sexually abused in Maryland

Justice Awaits Survivors of Maryland Police Sex Abuse

We must hold the police accountable for their crimes, especially when they are using their authority and power to abuse and groom minors.

Bowling Green’s database included the following Maryland officers accused of abusing, grooming, raping, or soliciting minors:

  • Cpl. Tristan Thigpen, Prince George’s County
  • Pfc. Nicholas Christopher Bonsall, Baltimore City
  • Pfc. Christopher B. Dunkes, Montgomery County

But this short list is not close to exhaustive for officers charged with child sex crimes in Bowling Green’s Police Crime Database. Not all sexual abuses committed by police are reported or investigated.

The Yost Legal Group thanks writers Jessica Contrera, Jenn Abelson, John, D. Harden, Haydon Godfrey, and FOIA specialist Nate Jones for their collaborative effort on “Abused by the Badge.”

Are You a Survivor of Police Sexual Abuse in Maryland?

Were you or a loved one raped or sexually abused by a Maryland police officer or guard? The Yost Legal Group is here to support survivors like you. Our prison abuse lawyers will help you file a sex abuse lawsuit.

If you are ready to share your story, our experienced child sexual abuse lawyers are here to listen. You are not alone, and you are not to blame.

Call or text 410-659-6800 for a free consultation. Justice is within your reach.

We have spoken with many survivors of child sexual abuse claims and family members. If we file a sexual abuse claim on your behalf, our inmate abuse lawsuit lawyers will stand by you every step of the way.

Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation. We never charge upfront fees. In fact, it costs you nothing upfront for us to handle your case.

We are paid after we settle your case. And if there is no recovery, there are no fees or expenses due.