Atlanta Teacher Caught In Sexual Relations With Middle School Girl

original story posted July 17, 2009

A teacher was placed under arrest for attempting to have sex with a female student in Clayton County, Georgia early Thursday. Charles Thomas McClendon, 29, was caught with a 15-year-old girl in the back seat of a Gold Ford F-150, according to Jonesboro police.

The Stone Mountain Middle School teacher is now being held in the Clayton County jail and being charged with child molestation and persuading a minor for indecent purposes. He will appear in court today for arraignment.

A Jonesboro police officer stated that while on patrol he spotted two people in a truck behind the El Tarasco restaurant at 2:30 a.m. As he approached the vehicle, he stated that McClendon threw a condom

out and rushed to pull his pants back on. The girl in the vehicle was also seen trying to throw her clothes back on, according to Jonesboro Police Major Tim Jessup. He tried to pull off when he realized that the people approaching the truck were the police, but they soon stopped him before he could evacuate the scene in progress.

According to the arrest warrant that was filed in Clayton County Magistrate Court, McClendon was in the act of fondling the girl. It added that authorities were able to step into the scene as he was putting on the condom and had five more minutes passed, he would have been caught in the act.

While being questioned, McClendon initially told the authorities that he had just returned to town and was having sex with his girlfriend. As he continued to be questioned, however, he clarified his relationship with the girl and stated that he knew the girl from where he teaches. As the female was questioned, she at first presented officers with a fake name and age, but they were later able to discover that the girl was only 15.

McClendon knew the young woman through tutoring her in math the previous year which was confirmed by the girl, according to Jessup.

A spokesman for DeKalb County Schools, Dale Davis, stated that McClendon is a first-year teacher in that school system and could not provide further commentary on the subject at hand.