August 4, 2005 Ballard High T.A. charged with molesting students SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF Prosecutors charged a Ballard High School teaching assistant yesterday with inappropriately touching three female students at the school over the past three years. Frederick L. Thornton was charged with two counts of third-degree child molestation and one count of indecent liberties. According to police, Seattle Public Schools has suspended Thornton -- for a second time. School district officials had reinstated Thornton, 43, last year after placing him on leave for several months to investigate similar accusations, according to police. He denied those accusations, police said, and was reinstated. According to police, the school district has employed Thornton -- who has also gone by the name Fred Williams -- since 2002 as a teacher's assistant at Ballard, primarily working with special-needs students. Earlier in 2002, according to King County prosecutors, Thornton's contract with the Renton School District was not renewed when he was investigated over similar accusations. Two of the students in the current case were 15 years old when the incidents allegedly occurred; one was 18. Police allege Thornton used his position at the school to get the girls alone and in some cases ply them with alcohol or marijuana before touching them. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235221_kcbriefs04.html Back To Guvment Skool Page 8 COPYRIGHT "DUHMAG.COM" 2005