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Subscribe to RSSA year after a woman ran into a teacher she says molested her in the 1960s, he was arrested Friday afternoon, Fairfax County police said.
Detectives charged 73-year-old Christopher R. Kloman of McLean, Va., with three counts of indecent liberties and one count of abduction with intent to defile.
The investigation began in November 2011 after the woman saw Kloman teaching children at Washington Episcopal School, police said. She told the school he molested her 43 years earlier when she was a 12-year-old elementary school student of Kloman’s at Potomac School in McLean.
The investigation found three more female victims who were ages 12 to 14 when the alleged incidents took place in 1968 and 1969, police said.
Kloman taught at Potomac School from 1965 until 1994 and then at schools in Maryland, police said. Until the investigation began, he had been working as a substitute teacher in Maryland.
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Investigators believe there could be more victims, police said, but they have no evidence any incidents since the early 1980s.
Anyone with information about Kloman or the case should call police at 703-691-2131 or contact Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS/8477, www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or by texting “TIP187” plus the tip to CRIMES/274637.
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Witch hunt?
With four victims, I doubt it is a "witch hunt", but they may have problems with the Statute of Limitations.
Virgina has no limit on the time to prosecute rape, but this may not have included rape. in addition, the current law may not be what was on the books when the crime was committed. In the past, the Statute of Limitations tended to be MUCH shorter than today, and in many cases, has been extended with new laws in recent years.
Like it or not, I suspect he will walk.
It must be ...... he's not a priest.
I do not know if this guy is guilty or not, but there needs to be some reasonableness applied to the time frame in which these complaints must be filed. It is absolutely absurd to expect this guy to be able to defend himself over 40 years after the supposed crime. How is he supposed to remember where he was and what he was doing that long ago. There have been to many cases where these accusations being made after such a long period of time have been found to be false. This has been true even when there have been multiple accusers. Look at the case of the Syracuse assistant basketball coach where two separate accusers both came forward and admitted to making up their stories. There is too much money to be made in the civil suits that always follow these cases to believe that some women do not have other motives for jumping on the bandwagon once the first accusation is made. It is pretty clear that after all this time that it strictly going to come down to whose word you are going to believe. It is virtually impossible for there to be any physical evidence to use after all this time. With the propensity for people to want to believe the women making the charges, it is virtually impossible for a guy to get a fair trial or mount any kind of defense after all this time. If the charges were brought in a more timely manner he might have been able to show that he was somewhere else at the time the attack supposedly occurred, but that is not something you can reasonably expect 40 years after the fact. I can understand allowing some time, particularly when children are involved, for them to come forward. But there needs to be some cut off, maybe 5 years after they become an adult, for them to file charges. I think that people who abuse children are absolutely despicable, but to allow this case to go forward after this much time has passed is not justice. As I said, this guy may be guilty, but we have a statute of limitations for a reason and this is a prime example of it.
@JS in SD, I am not so sure that I would want to limit the criminal prosecution as they still have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, and while that is hard to defend 40 years later, it is also hard to prosecute 40 years later, and meet that burden of proof.
That said, there is always a separate, and usually different time frame for the Statute of Limitations on civil cases. Limiting that makes a lot of sense, and usually it is already is severely limited, since after 40 years, if you decide to come forward, it certainly will not be for the money since a civil case will be summarily dismissed once the Statute of Limitations is brought up in court. In other words, if you can't sue for money after a certain point, the only reason to come forward is for justice. I would actually think that is the case here as the article says nothing about suing, and the civil Statute of Limitations has probably long run out.
Did you people not read the entire article? In 2011 she learned he was still teaching children! Don't you get it? The abuse could still be going on. She's trying to protect children that may be being molested by him NOW. Why is that so difficult to understand? Plus, it's NOT just HER word. Others have come forward. Some of you really make me shake my head in disgust. Do you want YOUR children protected? Apparently not.
I don't believe there should be any statute of limitations on child molestation. If this guy did commit the crime he should be prosecuted no matter how much time has passed. That being said, what if he didn't commit the crime? We will protect the victim's right to privacy forever but what about the accused. No matter whether he is found innocent at trial or even if these women were to recant their stories, he will never teach again. There are people who will believe he is a molester for the rest of his life. The name of the accused should be protected, just as much as the possible victim's name, until he is convicted.
I have some serious doubts about the accusations in this case. Four students and, according to the article, nothing after 1980. Normally, predators don't just stop. They might pause for a little while but they never stop.
Several years ago I was watching a show about insurance fraud. The set up a fake city bus crash and then had someone run around hollering that there had been an accident and they needed help. All the while there were hidden cameras pointed at the bus. Several people in the area ran to jump on the bus they could claim injuries too. I am not saying they are lying but waiting more than 40 years before coming forward is a little questionable. Is it possible their is a money angle here? Could there be some other reason these women are coming forward now?
How would you feel if someone came forward and accused you of something like this? Even if it was just a case of mistaken identity and it could be proven that you and your accuser were never withing 100 miles of each other, once your name is in the paper, on the news and Internet, there will always be those who believe you are guilty. Imagine trying to look for a job...
J'accuse
I mean, come on, this took 40+ years to be made known?
Not uncommon. I have a close relative who was sexually molested at a Catholic school after acting out in class, back in the 70's. She never told anyone at the school or her parents, because she knew nobody would believe her. She ended up only telling a sibling. When stuff like that happens, the victims (especially when they're young) often feel helpless.
My sentiments exactly.
Profreedom...so that excuses his actions??? Do you have any clue how this affects a young child to be molested? Obviously the cleaning lady doesn't either......I hope neither of you has kids.
Allen- y'know, I hate people like you on Newsvine- you make assumptions and jump to conclusions, making up your own 'facts' based on faulty perception, filtered by your own prejudices and ignorance.
Where in my comment above did I ever fuking "excuse his actions"? You think I don't have a clue how this crap affects children? Get real. Hopefully YOU don't have kids yourself because they're bound to have your own brand of moronic sh!t rubbed off on them. So STFU!
Back in the 60s Shari laws could have been accepted here in the US mostly toward rape/sexual assault victims. Nightmares don't quit just because the victims ages. More young victims were treated as if they were the perp & not the victims. Girls were made to feel guilty & unworthy of justice from everyone involved cops, doctors, attorneys, school system & so forth. Children learned how the system worked by watching others going through man made hell.
I don't why it took so long for these people to come forward years ago as adults, if nothing else to warn other families & potential victims.
The guy is 73... Let it go.
He's a child molester you piece of @#$%. You are going to sympathize with a child molester? Are you a child molester too?
Alledged.
Cases like these make me realize that our nation must have better statute of limitations laws. These allegations are utterly ridiculous and ill timed – especially nearly 50 years later.
Cases like these, nationwide, should be settled in civil courts instead of tying up police investigatory time and resources.
what the f___k . 43 years. i can't remember what happened 2 years ago. waste some more tax payer money.
It may seem irrelevant to some, but to the victims of this man those 40 years aren't long enough. The question is whether he can be successfully prosecuted. If he can't be tried and found guilty he won't be going to court.
I just looked up the Statute of Limitations in Virginia and the molestation period is long gone. I'm surprised that the police even arrested the man. Sorry.
I just do not get people who make excuses for others. If your a murderer, rapist, child molester, drug addict, racist, bigot that's exactly what you are if it happened yesterday or 50 years ago. I feel absolutely no pity for this person if he committed these crimes. How about perpetrators being responsible for their own actions. If it is true he was teaching or with children ALL these years and that should send a chill through every parent whose child came in contact with this perv. Never make any excuses for criminals. They all have lawyers to represent them.
I am seeing people above commenting upon the fact he was arrested so long after the crimes, perhaps he was still teaching / molesting kids. The women who came forward may be the tip of the iceberg. People do still have sexual needs in their 70s and I doubt the man changed his nature.
Please remind my wife that men in their 70s still have sexual needs. Apparently our marriage counselor's advice didn't take root - so to speak.
Men change their nature only when women beat it out of them. . . Sigh
Besides the he said/she said, what evidence would be there 50 years later?
this is all bull @!$%# how in the hell can he be arrested on just some ones word??????
Yeah sort of like catching a Nazi War criminal on someones word. Then you find out later he helped kill thousands of folks 60 years ago. You can have anyone arrested for just your word. Since others have come forward in this case it could be like some said "tip of the iceberg" Also like these Priests they find 50 years later molested dozens to hundreds. Yeah like those.
Or like the Salem witch trials. . .
Womans world.
Let's see - for 40+ years this woman - and three others - did nothing. So FOUR women failed to do anything about or say anything to anyone for 40+ years ???
It doesn't sound like there is much of a case - precisely due to the statute of limitations. However, the article says the man was still arrested. Something tells me there is more to this story than the reporter provided as I am sure the local prosecutor would not have moved forward without thinking he could win.
Don't you just love it when all you get is HALF the story??? It's amazing how many different endings we can come up with - and all due to a reporter who couldn't be bothered with getting the whole scoop instead of just licking the sides of the bucket.
State of Virginia has no statute of limitations on felony charges. They will go after him for felony counts so as to get a conviction regardless of age. I feel for the victims and wished they had come out sooner so that there was no chance of him creating more victims over the course of his career. If he truly did do this 40 years ago he should not have been in the classroom since.
I think this guy is going to walk... Statue of limitations applies here... alleged crime was in Potomac school in District of Columbia, heres a link to their statues of limitations... basically it says no limit on murder, but all other crimes are either 3 or 6 years... I don't know why he was even arrested; if a D.A. was involved, he would totally be aware of this... unless he's just wanting to make some political gain.. which is not beyond the realm of possibility..
it all depends on where he will be charged.
How can they arrest someone on just alleged charges? Doesn't the prosecutors office need some kind of reasonable proof to go on with this? Did these women make complaints back in the 60s?
In the state of Virginia an accusation alone is enough to bring charges in any type of sex crimes. Although it would seem that now they would try to find some sort of evidence being it happened 40 years ago.
Thats bad. So any person who has a gripe with someone else can just accuse and make their lives miserable?
As long as there is a chance that it could have possibly happened. Meaning that you just can't out of the blue say something about someone unless there was an opportunity for the crime to have occurred.
Ya, how can he be arrested after all this time? If any of those women were my daughter, I would still kill him. I can't believe all the idiots siding with a child molesting monster. For shame!
We do not know if the woman reported it back in the 60's or not, but the fact still remains and that is: The woman recognized that man after 40 years and reported that he raped her. Other victims had stated they were molested from that savage. Also, this is perhaps stopping another child from being abused.
This guy did me too in 1970 and since I am now on my third divorce and can use some serious coin....what address should I have my attorney serve him papers?...oh wait...he is not a priest? Forget it...I will will until a priest comes along.