A former Iredell County teacher is now facing nearly 100 more charges of indecent liberties with a child.

Sheriff investigators were inside the home of John Thomas Patterson for more than two hours Friday.

Patterson was arrested again Thursday and was out of jail on a $350,000 bond. Deputies charged him with 96 counts of taking indecent liberties with children and one count of first-degree sex offense.

In February, he was charged with 14 counts of indecent liberties.

When Eyewitness News showed up at Patterson's home, he tried to dodge the camera by hiding behind a shed.

Patterson worked at Mount Mourne Elementary in Mooresville. The Sheriff's Office said 17 victims have now come forward, saying Patterson molested them in the 1970s and 1980s.

Along East Stewart Avenue, Eyewitness News saw four investigators with the Iredell County Sheriff's office search the home Friday afternoon.

Deputies said the 17 accusers in the case were between the ages of 9 and 11 at the time of the incidents. Investigators believe Patterson touched them inappropriately both in and out of the classroom.

Neighbors are still in shock about the arrest of the 65-year-old who they saw take long walks around the neighborhood.

"A lot of times they think they are the only one, and they don't realize there's other people out there and it's such a hard thing to come forward and talk about," said Julie Gibson with the Special Victims Unit.