Background: Montgomery Village (Md.) Middle School (via Google Maps) Inset: Photo of Melissa Marie Curtis (via Montgomery County (Md.) Police Department)
Police in Maryland are asking for any possible victims to come forward after a man accused his middle school teacher of sexually assaulting him multiple times in 2015.
The alleged victim claims Melissa Marie Curtis, 31, engaged in sex acts with him when he was a minor. He claims the abuse started when Curtis was 22 and he was a 14-year-old eighth grade student at Montgomery Village Middle School in Montgomery County.
Charging documents allege the abuse lasted for several months, from January to May 2015. The man says all the sex acts happened within Montgomery County, but in different locations, such as a school classroom, a movie theater, multiple homes, and Curtis’ car. He claims the two had sex more than 20 times.
Curtis turned herself in on Nov. 7 after the Montgomery County Police Department’s Special Victims Investigations Division issued an arrest warrant. She is charged with sexual abuse of a minor, as well as multiple counts of third- and fourth-degree sex offenses.
According to police, Curtis was a teacher in Montgomery County for approximately two years, working at Montgomery Village Middle School and Lakelands Park Middle School.
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Jesse Weber spoke with renowned journalist and founder of the TruBlu streaming service Chris Hansen about the ongoing investigation for Law&Crime’s Sidebar podcast.
“At least anecdotally, to me, it seems like we’re seeing more survivors, victims coming forward. People are starting to feel more comfortable,” Hansen told Weber.
“It also speaks to this notion about some people saying, ‘oh, well, it’s a young adolescent boy’s dream come true to have a sexual liaison with an older woman.’ But at that age, it causes a lot of damage,” Hansen said. “And obviously, in this case, you had a boy who was 14 years old at the time of the offense, who all these years later has come forward, because it would seem to me that he’s suffering from what happened, that it impacted him in a negative way. And that’s why it’s a crime.”
“If it was something that was harmless or purely sexual in nature for him, you would likely let it pass,” Hansen continued. “But he felt compelled to come forward and report a crime that happened, you know, eight, nine years ago. And this is significant because somebody in the position of trust like a teacher, should not be able to get away with this. And it’s not a harmless fantasy. It causes damage.”
Investigators believe there could be other students who were victims of Curtis. Anyone with information is asked to call 240-773-5400.
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