Portsmouth ex-teacher pleads guilty to sex offenses

PORTSMOUTH

Within months, teachers at two city high schools were charged with felonies connected to inappropriate relations they were accused of having with students.

On Thursday, one of those men - Marc A. Allmond - pleaded guilty to carnal knowledge of a minor and taking indecent liberties with a minor while in a supervisory relationship.

The Virginian-Pilot does not identify juvenile victims.

Allmond, 30, a former algebra teacher and junior varsity coach at I.C. Norcom, was investigated after the parents of a 16-year-old girl found inappropriate text messages from him on her phone, according to a summary of evidence in court.

K.M. Brown, a police officer assigned to Norcom, testified that the girl told police Allmond picked her up Oct. 18 and drove her to a location in Park View where some of the offenses occurred.

She told police that Allmond took her out of school four or five times in spring 2009 for lunch. On one occasion, she said, Allmond took her to a spot near the water in Park View, where offenses also occurred.

The victim could not give an exact date, but she would have been 13 or 14 when it occurred, Brown told the judge.

The officer said Allmond admitted to offenses with the girl when interviewed by police.

He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and will be sentenced March 14.

His arrest followed by eight months that of Cedric Cradle, a Churchland High teacher and football coach.

Cradle, 38, is scheduled for a Feb. 15 jury trial on two counts of indecent liberties while in a supervisory relationship and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

During a previous hearing, the minor testified that she and Cradle had a consensual sexual relationship.

Cradle resigned from his position with Churchland High before his arrest. Allmond was fired.

School Board Chairman James Bridgeford said the board discussed the two incidents at a meeting and he believes the division is doing all it can, including background checks, to prevent such things from happening.

Division Superintendent David Stuckwisch said in November that while the two arrests occurred within months of each other, such cases are rare.

"In this case... the court is reacting to adult criminal behavior," Stuckwisch said Thursday. "Such behavior is absolutely and unequivocally unacceptable in Portsmouth Public Schools.

"Our students, our parents and our community should never have to give one thought to such behavior by one of our teachers."

Pilot writer Steven G. Vegh contributed to this report.

Janie Bryant, 757-446-2453, janie.bryant@pilotonline.com