WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Attorney for teacher's aid lashes out at police

Attorney for teacher's aid lashes out at police

By Michelle Paynter - bio | email

GARDEN CITY, GA (WTOC) - A female teacher's aid charged with molesting and raping a 15-year-old male student was back in court today. This time her attorney lashed out at investigators.

Police said 28-year-old Erika Simmons had sex with the boy at her Garden City home. The two met at Myers Middle School in Savannah where she worked as a teacher's aid and cheerleading coach.

Simmons is out on bond and no longer works for the school. She and most of her family were all in court today for the preliminary hearing, a hearing where the judge would decide if there was enough evidence against Simmons to send the case to a grand jury.

Garden City police testified they first learned Simmons was having sex with a student after she bragged about it to her friend and fellow employee at Myers Middle School, Alissa Robinson.

Simmons' attorney Greg Crawford, completely denies the sexual relationship and tried to discredit Robinson.

"It's only after Alissa Robinson was arrested and charged with aggravated assault that she started saying all this about Erika Simmons," said Crawford in court. "If she can get somebody else convicted or anything she's going to get consideration for this assault she allegedly committed."

Police have more than just that statement. They have the student on tape describing the sexual relationship and they have a taped confession from Simmons.

Crawford went after the police about that confession and things got heated.

But police said they read Simmons her rights and she never asked for an attorney. Crawford said Simmons had no choice other than to confess.

"They weren't going to let her leave until she told them what they wanted to hear," said Crawford. "I've seen it again and again."

"He's going to throw everything on the wall and see if anything will stick," said a family member of the victim. WTOC is not publishing her name to protect the identity of the boy.

The family says none of this would have been said in court if it was a male teacher who had sex with a female student.

"She's more than twice, almost twice his age," the family member said.

The family said Simmons took advantage of the 15-year-old. The idea of that sickens them. "I can't imagine, I don't know, I can't imagine that," she said. "But the bottom line is that an innocence that he once had is no longer there. His relationship with females have been changed forever."

The judge ruled there was enough evidence to send the case up to superior court. Now it's up to a grand jury to decide if the case against Simmons goes to trial.