Norcom teacher, coach out on bond on sex charges

PORTSMOUTH

A Norcom High School teacher charged with sex crimes involving a student has been released on bond, and Superintendent David Stuckwisch said the School Board will discuss the matter at its Nov. 10 meeting.

Marc Andreas Allmond's case is the second in eight months involving a Portsmouth teacher accused of inappropriate relations with a student. Cedric Cradle, a former Churchland High School teacher and football coach, was charged in March and has a trial scheduled for February.

Stuckwisch said Thursday that every teacher hired by the division is informed about appropriate, professional relationships with students, all of which are specified in the employee handbook.

"They know better, and they should know better without us having to tell them," Stuckwisch said of teachers and conduct.

Board member James Hewitt said the board was briefed last week on the allegations against Allmond but he didn't address what action the board might take.

"We expect our employees to handle themselves appropriately at all times, and when they don't, there's always consequences," he said.

Allmond, 30, of Chesapeake, appeared in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court on Thursday morning and was released on a $1,000 bond.

He is accused of picking up the student in his SUV on Oct. 18 in the 2800 block of Turnpike Road and taking her to a location in Park View, where offenses occurred, according to a probable cause statement in court records.

Earlier in the day, Allmond had sent "inappropriate text messages" to the girl, police reported in the summary.

The student told police that in the spring of 2009, Allmond took her out of school at lunch four or five times - once to a Park View location near the water.

"The suspect repeatedly told her he wanted to have sex with her," according to the court filing.

Allmond told police he kissed, fondled and had other contact with the student, according to the probable cause summary.

Police say she was in Allmond's algebra class. The Virginian-Pilot does not name juvenile victims of crimes.

Police said in a news release that the student's parents read several inappropriate text messages from Allmond to the girl and informed police Oct. 19. The city police officer assigned as Norcom High's resource officer then investigated.

Allmond, who teaches math and coaches junior varsity football at Norcom, is charged with aggravated sexual battery, indecent liberties by a custodian, object sexual penetration and carnal knowledge of a minor, all felonies. He also is charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor.

Stuckwisch said the cases involving Allmond and Cradle were the only times in his nine-year tenure as superintendent that Portsmouth teachers have been charged with sex crimes against students.

"They are rare, but they are very serious," he said.

Cradle was convicted of two misdemeanor charges in juvenile court in June. He appealed, and his case, including two additional felony charges, will be heard in Circuit Court on Feb. 15.

Allmond was put on administrative leave with pay during the police investigation and is now on leave without pay, Stuckwisch said.

Allmond, a 1999 Wilson High alumnus, graduated from Virginia State University in 2004 and began coaching at Wilson that year. According to an interview he gave the Virginian-Pilot last year, he also coached at Granby High in Norfolk before being hired by Portsmouth schools and going to Norcom in 2007.

A condition of Allmond's bond was that he have no contact with the student, and he also is to report to probation officers before the trial.

A preliminary court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 17.