A Montgomery County middle school teacher is accused of having a relationship with a 14-year-old student, and a former high school instructor is charged with soliciting students for sex, touching students and exposing himself to them.
The two men were arrested Monday in separate sex-offense cases.
Montgomery County police allege that 39-year-old Aaron Lamere, who was a media services technician at Northwood High School in Silver Spring until March, possessed child pornography and engaged in sexual conduct with three male students at Northwood between October and February.
Police began investigating the child pornography case in mid-March and found explicit images of young boys on Lamere’s work laptop, authorities said.
While probing that case, police said, detectives learned that Lamere solicited sex from students via text messaging. He also allegedly inappropriately touched students, exposed himself to students and showed students images of a naked man on his cellphone. Three students were victimized and were 14, 15 and 16 years old, said Officer Janelle Smith, a police spokeswoman.
The pornography didn’t include images of Northwood students, Smith said.
In a separate case, 50-year-old Cuyler Cornell, a seventh-grade English teacher at Neelsville Middle School in Germantown, befriended a student during the 2010-2011 school year when the student was in his class, police said. He later began going to the student’s home and seeing the student outside of school, authorities said.
Last summer, Cornell allegedly touched the 14-year-old student inappropriately, putting his hands down the victim’s pants, Smith said. She would not provide the victim’s gender because she said the student was afraid of being identified. School staff members saw inappropriate conduct between the two this school year and reported it to authorities, according to police and school officials.
No attorneys were listed for the men in court records.
Lamere had worked for Montgomery County Public Schools since 2003 and Cornell since 1985, according to schools spokesman Dana Tofig. Lamere resigned while he was being investigated and Cornell has been on leave since February, when the alleged inappropriate behavior was reported, Tofig said.
In letters to parents, the principals at Northwood and Neelsville described the arrests as “extremely upsetting” and said counselors would be available to speak with students.
Lamere faces charges that include possession of child pornography, sexual solicitation of a minor, indecent exposure, sexual abuse of a minor, and third- and fourth-degree sex offenses. Cornell is charged with third-degree sex offense and sexual abuse of a minor.
