Southern Lab School teacher arrested
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A former college basketball player and current teacher at the Southern University Lab School was arrested Wednesday, accused of sexually harassing two 16-year-old students and having pornography on his classroom computer.
Southern University Police arrested Aaron J. Hammond, 34, 23306 General Gardner Lane, Zachary. They booked him into Parish Prison on a count of indecent behavior with juveniles, according to booking documents.
Hammond, a 1992 graduate of Southern Lab who had been a teacher there since August, taught algebra I and physical science to middle school students, Southern University spokesman Ed Pratt said. Hammond was also the assistant coach of the high school boys’ basketball team.
Hammond was a freshman on the Southern University basketball team when it won the SWAC tournament in 1993 — the school’s first NCAA conference tournament victory.
A 16-year-old girl contacted a Southern University police officer on April 14, an arrest warrant says. She reported that Hammond had told her she was a “little sexy thing” and that he wanted to grab her “booty,” the warrant says.
Later in the day, that victim returned to the officer with another girl who also said Hammond had acted inappropriately with her, the warrant says.
The second victim told the officer that Hammond had touched her legs on several occasions, the arrest warrant says. She also said Hammond touched her buttocks while she was standing at her locker.
Hammond had also called her on her personal cell phone, insisting that she call him “Aaron,” “not Mr. Hammond or Coach Hammond,” the warrant says.
School officials met with the victims and their parents the next day, the arrest warrant says. School director Dr. Derek Morgan informed the parents that Hammond had been placed on leave with pay, pending the outcome of the investigation.
After word of the investigation circulated around campus, several other students told the officer they had seen Hammond looking at pornography on his computer during class, the warrant says.
Investigators with the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office High Technology Crime Unit seized Hammond’s work computer, finding more than 250 pornographic images of adults and “several images of child erotica,” the warrant says.
Child erotica differs from child pornography in that the former depicts nude children who are not engaged in sexual activities and does not focus on their genitalia, said Laura Gerdes, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office.
“It is sexual in content, however it is not as extreme (as child pornography),” Gerdes said.
Friday, May 16, 2008
3:23 PM