News

Counselor speaks out after being cleared of sex assault allegations

COBB COUNTY, Ga.,None — A former Lassiter High School counselor has been cleared of charges that he sexually assaulted a student.

He talked publicly for the first time to Channel 2's Ross Cavitt Friday, telling him the whole ordeal left his life in shambles.

It happened in December 2009, when a 17-year-old girl said Frank Robinson had inappropriately touched her in his office.

Robinson was then kicked out of the school and transferred to another, then had his teaching certification revoked, leaving him without a job.

This week, a Cobb County jury decided the girl made the whole thing up.

"He closed his door and basically felt me up in his office," the girl told Channel 2 Action News shortly after the incident.

PREVIOUS STORY:

Robinson said Lassiter school officials were quick to take the girl's word over his, ignoring his long, unblemished record of work with and for children.

"And to have colleagues, not teachers that worked with me, administrators and board people from the office turn their back on you is disheartening, because teachers work so hard, not to have support of the administration and like I said, the county office people," Robinson told Cavitt Friday.

http://bcove.me/t27r66v9

Robinson said he was initially transferred after the incident and then when board members sent the case file to the state, his teaching certificate was revoked. He couldn't even visit the schools where his two sons attended.

"It hurts that every morning I would drive my son to school and after I dropped him off at school, I would make a right to go to the high school … to know that I could not make that turn, to go to where I loved to work, it hurt. It hurt deeply and … I'm really trying to get past it, but it's tough," Robinson said.

"All six were unanimous in that. They were angry that this case had been brought. It was tissue-paper-thin. They did not believe the complainant and they loved Frank," attorney Barry Hazen said.

Robinson said what really hurt him the most, after all he'd been through, he couldn't step foot on any school's grounds, missing his sons' basketball games.

It is unclear if Robinson can get his teaching certification back anytime soon.
http://bcove.me/q201igdb