MOORESVILLE, N.C.,None — A Mooresville student said Thursday evening that she was shocked to learn that police charged one of her former teachers with sexually abusing a child in his family.
"I never expected that to happen," Selena Clarke, 12, said.
"It just kind of broke my heart because he always seemed like a good person," said Charlene Clarke, Selena's mother. "He didn't seem to be that type of person."
James Meskill was returned to jail after making his first appearance in court Thursday afternoon on charges of first-degree sex offense and first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Detectives arrested Meskill on Wednesday at J.H. Gunn Elementary School in east Charlotte, where he was a teacher's assistant.
Meskill resigned after the arrest. Meskill was a teacher at Mooresville Intermediate School from 2007 to 2009.
"He taught me in fifth grade and he was a pretty cool teacher," Selena Clarke said.
Selena's mother learned about Meskill's arrest after watching a report on Eyewitness News on Wednesday.
"It hit me pretty hard to realize she had been in class for eight months with him, you know," Charlene Clarke said.
Mooresville school officials issued a statement that read "There were no allegations that Mr. Meskill engaged in any inappropriate conduct with students or other school community members."
Charlene Clarke said she was so concerned about the sex abuse allegations against Meskill that she had a frank conversation with her daughter.
"First thing is, 'Did he ever do anything to you? Did he do anything out of the way at all?' This right here is my world, and Lord help me if somebody ever did something to her," said Charlene Clarke.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte is considering federal charges against Meskill because he's accused of videotaping the sexual abuse of a child.
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