Criminal Defense Attorney Brad Koffel was quoted by The Lima News discussing a criminal case against a former Lima Senior High School teacher who pleaded guilty to a reduced charge after being indicted on a fourth-degree felony for gross sexual imposition over alleged sexual contact with a minor student.
The former teacher, who has emphatically denied the incident, entered a guilty plea to a first-degree misdemeanor count of disturbances relative to schools during a hearing in Allen County Common Pleas Court in October. He was sentenced to a suspended 90-day term in county jail, one year of probation, and must perform 20 hours of community service.
In a statement published by The Lima News, Attorney Brad Koffel explained how the case against his client was largely one of “bad optics” in that it involved a student enrolled in the school’s special needs program who would “almost daily hide beneath a desk.” On the day of the alleged offense, Koffel said, the former teacher was attempting to convince the student to come out from beneath the desk.
“She said she would come out if she could brush Alan’s eyebrows with her eyebrow brush. Alan assented to her request and that’s when another person came in and saw the two of them in the back of the room. He knew right away the optics were terrible. But he absolutely denies ever touching her, period.”
Koffel added that his client “probably should have spoken up from the beginning of this case but he didn’t because he was following the instructions of the (teachers’) union attorney.”