Two Ridgeland High School students say a teacher showed them inappropriate pictures, prompting administrators to move him out of the classroom. This is the second time he has been transferred away from students this school year. The accusation also led to a criminal inquiry, his fifth in 10 months.
The teacher, Sam Forester, allegedly showed the students photos on his phone Friday while in a "classroom setting," Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said. The students reported the incident Monday, but a detective did not find the offending photos, if they exist at all.
Sam ForesterWilson said his department gave the phone to a local Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent who knows how to uncover some recently deleted data. The case is still pending. Wilson was not sure if the described photos supposedly existed on Forester's camera roll or an app, like Snapchat. He also declined to describe what the students claim to have seen.
"Just inappropriate photos," he said. "You'll have to take it from there. What I would deem inappropriate, if it turns out to be true."
Forester's attorney, David Cunningham, said he learned about the allegations Tuesday, when his client called his office. He said Forester was sent home from work.
Walker County Schools Superintendent Damon Raines said he moved Forester, a special education teacher and football coach, from the classroom to the system's central office, keeping him away from students. Raines moved Forester once before, in September, after police arrested him for a third time in a year on allegations of attacking his ex-wife.
At the time, Raines said the move was a "precautionary measure." But Raines brought Forester to Ridgeland High School in January, saying the school was short on special education teachers. He was in a support role, working in a classroom with another teacher.
Cunningham has previously denied the domestic violence charges against his client, saying his ex-wife is trying to exact revenge with "calculated attempts to get him fired." After Forester filed for divorce in October 2016, a judge ruled his former wife could stay in his house through January 2017. Months later, Forester said she was still there. A judge ordered her to leave again in April 2017.
That same day, a neighbor called the cops, reporting an argument next door. The officer charged both Forester and the woman with battery, after she claimed he grabbed her tightly by the arm and he claimed she bit him. The officer wrote that they both showed physical marks of injury.
In June, the Walker County Sheriff's Office arrested Forester after his former wife said he stomped on her arm. In September, the sheriff's office arrested him again after she said he choked her and shoved her against a wall. In October, he was arrested a fourth time, when she said he attacked her with a box cutter.
On the incident report, the investigator wrote that the accuser had superficial cuts on her arm. Forester said she ripped his shirt when he refused to have sex with her after dropping supplies off for her cat. The officer wrote that his shirt was, in fact, ripped. He added that Forester played a voice mail for him, in which the woman threatened to phone the police if he did not call her back.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.