www.guyanachronicle.com/ARCHIVES/archive%2005-08-08.htm -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 8/5/2008
Last Visited: 8/29/2008
Aaron Adhin Mohanlal
Aaron Adhin Mohanlal is back in jail after being released on bond pending the appeal of his conviction for the sex charge.
Mohanlal's case ignited outrage in Florida and across the U.S. after CNN reported he was on the loose, despite his conviction and sentencing last year to 43 years in prison for child abuse and molestation.
Police tell CWN that in 1987, the 41-year-old was a teacher at the Open Bible High School in Marabella, a rural town in the southern part of the island.
He migrated to the U.S. subsequently and studied and worked in Toronto.By 1999, he was living in Jacksonville, Fla., where he earned a master of theological studies at Logos Christian College and Graduate School.He moved to Broward County in 2000, where he was the organist for the Coral Springs Church of God.
Shortly after, he became a teacher at New Renaissance Middle School in South Florida.Prosecutors said that between 2003 and 2004, Mohanlal, who taught art, had sex with the then 13-year-old student almost weekly, taking the boy to a supply closet between classes or arranging to meet him after school in his car parked in a nearby shopping centre.He also gave the boy a cell phone so they could communicate, and created nicknames for their genitalia.Sometimes, Mohanlal would call in sick to work, take the boy to his home for sex and drop the seventh-grader back off at school at the end of the day.
After the boy moved on to high school, the meetings continued at Mohanlal,s home, courts document said.The boy testified that Mohanlal threatened him with bad grades if he didn,t comply.When the boy finally rejected him, Mohanlal exacted revenge by circulating flyers that said the child had sex with animals.
After the boy told his parents of the abuse, police recorded his and Mohanlal's phone conversations, which confirmed the boy,s story.Police investigations found Mohanlal may have been pursuing other children.
Mohanlal was convicted last year on 13 counts of sexual molestation and child abuse, but in a very rare move, Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold allowed his father and a brother to put up their property - supposedly valued $610,000 - as bond pending appeal.
...
Mohanlal was required to wear a GPS tracking device and keep away from the boy and his family.The judge,s rationale for allowing the bond was that Mohanlal wouldn,t risk his family losing everything.
The victim and his family reacted with shock and disgust to the decision.The boy, now 18, said knowing Mohanlal was free made his life difficult.
,I try not to think about it, but it's hard,, he told CNN. ,Because all I can think about is, what if he's out there around other kids?,
After the story broke on CNN, a similar reaction erupted among the public.
,Absolutely appalling,, a comment below the story on CNN.com, was typical of other online postings.
Prosecutors challenged Gold,s decision, arguing that the property owned by Mohanlal,s family didn,t have as much value as they claimed.
...
Gold conceded, and Mohanlal, who,d been working in construction while out on bond, was taken back into custody.