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Montgomery County Teacher Accused Of Inappropriately Touching Male Students

Walt Hunter reports...

By Brad Segall

PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) -- A former middle school teacher in Montgomery County is under arrest accused of indecently assaulting several of his former students while he was tutoring or mentoring them after class.

Authorities say five teenage boys have come forward all telling the same story. They claim they were improperly touched by Spanish teacher William Schellinger while they were eighth graders at Colonial Middle School in Plymouth Township.

The 41-year-old Gilbertsville resident is charged with indecent assault and corruption of minors according to District Attorney Risa Ferman.

"The similarities of the assaults were striking in that each of the boys described tutoring or mentoring sessions while they were in the eighth grade at which time Mr. Schellinger would be touching parts of their body," Ferman explained.

Court records reveal Schellinger was accused of similar activity while he was a teacher at Father Judge High School in Philadelphia. He resigned his position there, but that information was apparently not available to Colonial school officials who did the proper background checks.

Schellinger is free on $5,000 bail.

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