FULLERTON : Teacher to Stand Trial on Sex Charges
High school teacher George Melvin Fairchild was ordered Thursday to stand trial on charges that he molested three female students and sexually harassed two others.
Three girls allege that Fairchild touched them improperly while they were attending his class at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, according to Investigator Samuel P. Contino of the Fullerton Police Department. Two other girls said he made sexual comments, Contino testified.
Fairchild’s attorney, Tom Goethals, said his client “touches his students--male and female--to encourage them, to get their attention.†Goethals said any contact would have been “a friendly pat of encouragement,†not sexual.
Fairchild, 53, was charged in July with eight counts of felony lewd and lascivious conduct with a 15-year-old. He also was charged with two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery for allegations involving touching, and with five counts of misdemeanor child annoyance involving allegedly sexually explicit language.
Fairchild, who taught life science and pre-algebra, is now on unpaid leave pending the outcome of his trial.
Fairchild, who has not been arrested, was ordered to appear Oct. 4 in Superior Court in Santa Ana.
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