Teacher gets new accuser in sex case

Another possible victim came forward Friday in the case of a first-grade teacher, honored last year for going the extra mile with students, charged with molesting three students at a Riverton elementary school.

The Division of Child and Family Services received the new referral from someone in the Jordan School District, according to DCFS director Duane Betournay.

Teacher Laine Hall, 36, was charged Thursday with three counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child, accused of putting his hands "inside the pants" of three girls in his classroom at Rosamond Elementary School, according to court documents.

Hall was removed from the classroom Monday, arrested at his home Thursday and remained in the Salt Lake County Jail Friday on $500,000 bail.

The arrest of the popular teacher has parents asking themselves, and others, if there were signs they missed, and whether there's a foolproof way of recognizing a pedophile before damage has been done.

Psychologists and social workers who treat sex offenders and the children they molest agree that the terrain of pedophilia is never clearly marked. There's no clear-cut profile of what a pedophile looks like, and no foolproof way to separate a genuinely friendly adult from a friendly adult who is "grooming" children so he can later molest them.

"Successful" pedophiles are also often people who know how to engage children, said Carol Lear, director of school law for the State Office of Education. "It's interesting that a lot of the teachers who are found to be pedophiles are popular, very likeable teachers. The common thread is that they're outgoing and personable."

"But I hate to say 'if you have a teacher like that, be concerned,"' Lear adds.

So when should a parent be concerned? And how friendly can a teacher allow himself to be to his students? "There isn't a bright-line test," she said. But there are sometimes red flags, Lear and others said.

"Too much familiarity," Lear begins. "Keeping kids after school without letting parents know. Activities where the teacher is the only other adult involved. And a number of the problems we've seen with male teachers in elementary schools are when they let students sit on their laps. And tickling and wrestling," she added "are never good things."

Lear is uncomfortable if teachers invite students to their homes. "It's just too familiar," she said. On the other hand, when a teacher lives and works in a small community, "it's not clear you can say not to take cookies to (the students') homes."