LEBANON — The trial continues today for Austin Hopkins, the former Springboro gym teacher accused of sexually abusing first grade girls in his class.
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Hopkins, 25, is facing charges involving 28 first grade girls that were in his gym class at Clearcreek Elementary School in Springboro.
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A dad of one of the alleged victims was the first to testify in court today. We are not naming him as to not identify his daughter.
He said he asked his then 7-year-old daughter to sit on his lap on their couch and demonstrate what happened with her gym teacher.
“It was extremely disheartening and almost frightening as a parent to hear ... to hear your daughter say ... to hear her say what happened that evening before the gravity of what happened at that time was just worse than as a parent what I could imagine happening to her at school,” he said.
Clearcreek Elementary principal Carrie Corder also testified, saying she pulled surveillance video from the day the father testified about.
Asked what was on the video, she said “Mr. Hopkins hugging, kidding girls on laps -- things that caused me great concern.”
At that point, Hopkins was placed on administrative leave while an investigation started.
Jury selection and opening statements were made yesterday in the first day of the trial in Warren County Common Pleas Court in Lebanon.
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Prosecutors showed video of girls interacting with Hopkins. The video shows a man who appears to be Hopkins cradling two girls in his lap, News Center 7’s Molly Koweek reported.
“This case is about the sexual abuse that 28 little girls were subjected to by this defendant for his own sexual gratification,” Warren County First Assistant Prosecutor Julie Kraft said during the prosecution’s opening statement.
Hopkins’ defense argued in their opening statements that he was sexually naive and autistic. Also the defense argued the videos show nothing sexual in nature.
“There is nothing sexual happening in these videos,” defense attorney David Chicarelli said. “You will hear that my client was overwhelmed, he was way over his head, he had no training at all on how to interact with these first graders, and he wasn't even hired to teach this specific age group.”
