Eric Toth added to FBI Most Wanted List

[Anonymous]

Yes. It was a good thing that they had him escorted off school grounds so that he could go home and wait for the police to arrive there and pick him up. Toth is just an unusual pedophile, who would have guessed that he'd take off and run after he was exposed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It was a good thing that they had him escorted off school grounds so that he could go home and wait for the police to arrive there and pick him up. Toth is just an unusual pedophile, who would have guessed that he'd take off and run after he was exposed.

I recognize that you are being facetious, but running was an unusual response. And running and not being immediately caught was extremely unusual. When the school had a suspicion that the images were his but no actual proof, I don't think their reaction was that out of line. They immediately turned the situation over to the police to let them investigate. I am sure that they wish they had made a different decision now, but life isn't lived in hindsight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know much about this story, but it doesn't seem like such a huge error in judgement for the school to have escorted him off the property and called the police. The fact that he ran and also became unfindable seems like an outcome that the school could not have been expected to predict. In the vast majority of cases, the police would have picked him up at his home and it would have ended there. If they had tried to detain him and he had become violent and hurt someone at the school, there would be people who would be here complaining about that outcome. Blaming the school for not foreseeing a very unlikely outcome seems a bit unfair.

The Cathedral has a security force and the police could have been summoned immediately rather than after he was no longer there. They covered their asses, they thought, by calling the police but they didn't treat him seriously as someone who may have violated the innocence of children, children whose parents paid good $ for the experience. No one is suggesting that preschoolers detain him. There was no reason to think the images weren't his. They escorted him away and gave him a head start on the police. Fairness is a bit of an airy fairy concept given that more children have likely been molested in the meantime. Protecting children, even current very young students, was not the priority as evidenced by their actions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know much about this story, but it doesn't seem like such a huge error in judgement for the school to have escorted him off the property and called the police. The fact that he ran and also became unfindable seems like an outcome that the school could not have been expected to predict. In the vast majority of cases, the police would have picked him up at his home and it would have ended there. If they had tried to detain him and he had become violent and hurt someone at the school, there would be people who would be here complaining about that outcome. Blaming the school for not foreseeing a very unlikely outcome seems a bit unfair.

The Cathedral has a security force and the police could have been summoned immediately rather than after he was no longer there. They covered their asses, they thought, by calling the police but they didn't treat him seriously as someone who may have violated the innocence of children, children whose parents paid good $ for the experience. No one is suggesting that preschoolers detain him. There was no reason to think the images weren't his. They escorted him away and gave him a head start on the police. Fairness is a bit of an airy fairy concept given that more children have likely been molested in the meantime. Protecting children, even current very young students, was not the priority as evidenced by their actions.

Absolutely! What I don't understand is, why wasn't the police discretely called immediately after they discovered the images. Toth would not have known. The school didn't have to confront him at all. The police would have questioned him on the spot and moved from there. If anything, the Cathedral's security force could have detained him until the police arrived. The moment those images were discovered Beauvoir became a crime scene. If a dead body had been found at the school in Toth's bathroom they would have contacted the police whether or not they thought he was the murderer.

The number one reason the panicked decision to have Toth escorted out by Cathedral Security was made instead of the police being summoned was to protect the school's reputation.

[Anonymous]

Wait--I am late to this conversation. How did he get hired by Potomac. Wouldn't he have had to have references from Beauvoir?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
The Cathedral has a security force and the police could have been summoned immediately rather than after he was no longer there. They covered their asses, they thought, by calling the police but they didn't treat him seriously as someone who may have violated the innocence of children, children whose parents paid good $ for the experience. No one is suggesting that preschoolers detain him. There was no reason to think the images weren't his. They escorted him away and gave him a head start on the police. Fairness is a bit of an airy fairy concept given that more children have likely been molested in the meantime. Protecting children, even current very young students, was not the priority as evidenced by their actions.

I think it is fair to say that DCUM has been the epicenter of discussion of this topic. If this matter has been discussed more frequently in any other medium, I have no idea where that might be. As a result, I have had little choice but to follow developments fairly closely. There have been any number of posts such as the one above that purport to list "facts". But, it is not clear on what authority this poster is able to provide these facts. A lot of misinformation has been spread, much of it on this very website. While individuals are certainly welcome to offer opinions and discuss issues of interest -- particularly those that have been in the news -- I think we all have a duty to avoid spreading inaccurate information. I realize that many "facts" are in dispute. For instance, when were the police called? My understanding is that MPD police were called immediately. The Cathedral police were also called immediately (contrary to what is said above) and it is my understanding that Cathedral police were the ones that escorted Toth from the campus. I don't know, but I would guess that those police follow their own procedures and don't simply do the bidding of school administrators.

Perhaps it is human nature to try to make the complex simple. For instance to be able to say, "this person did this wrong" and have that explain why Toth is still free. Unfortunately, I am not sure this is a situation where that is possible. What I do know is that a whole lot of effort is being devoted to casting blame. It is not clear to me that those efforts are resulting in anything positive. The focus now should be on catching Toth not placing blame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait--I am late to this conversation. How did he get hired by Potomac. Wouldn't he have had to have references from Beauvoir?

Uh-huh. Probably received a glowing recommendation from the same person who called the security officer to walk him out after he was confronted about the pictures.

Dirty pool to do that to Potomac. B knew he had at least one screw loose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait--I am late to this conversation. How did he get hired by Potomac. Wouldn't he have had to have references from Beauvoir?

Uh-huh. Probably received a glowing recommendation from the same person who called the security officer to walk him out after he was confronted about the pictures.

Dirty pool to do that to Potomac. B knew he had at least one screw loose.

He was, in fact given a BAD reference by the school. But parents raved about him, and he did what he does, he charmed his way into Potomac, as he has charmed parents and children for years. That is why he is so dangerous. He is very good at manipulating people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait--I am late to this conversation. How did he get hired by Potomac. Wouldn't he have had to have references from Beauvoir?

Uh-huh. Probably received a glowing recommendation from the same person who called the security officer to walk him out after he was confronted about the pictures.

Dirty pool to do that to Potomac. B knew he had at least one screw loose.

He was, in fact given a BAD reference by the school. But parents raved about him, and he did what he does, he charmed his way into Potomac, as he has charmed parents and children for years. That is why he is so dangerous. He is very good at manipulating people

Okay, seriously. He received a BAD reference by the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait--I am late to this conversation. How did he get hired by Potomac. Wouldn't he have had to have references from Beauvoir?

Uh-huh. Probably received a glowing recommendation from the same person who called the security officer to walk him out after he was confronted about the pictures.

Dirty pool to do that to Potomac. B knew he had at least one screw loose.

He was, in fact given a BAD reference by the school. But parents raved about him, and he did what he does, he charmed his way into Potomac, as he has charmed parents and children for years. That is why he is so dangerous. He is very good at manipulating people

Okay, seriously. He received a BAD reference by the school.

That is what we, parents of the 3rd grade class when this went down, were told. But he simultaniously received outstanding references from some parents which with his charm somehow convinced his to be new employer to discount the poor reference. He in turn had outstanding past references when he was hired at Beauvoir. The guy is simply a master con man and predator. The term of art is "Grooming" and this person groomed not just little boys, but mom's and dad's too.

As for 20/20 on whether the civilian Cathedral police should have physically restrained him, who knows. My understanding was a kid took a camera from Toth's then empty classroom to another teacher to get batteries since it was dead. This was graduation day, and Toth's last day as a teacher there. When he/she put in the new batteries, and saw bad pictures on the camera, the cathedral and then the DC police were both immediately called. No one actually knew for fact whether this was his camera, his pics, etc. Sure, strong suspicions, but the camera didnt fall out of his pocket. This was all discovered by accident. I was furious myself at the time, being the parent of a then 3rd grade student there, but in hindsight, I think they made reasonable decisions based on the facts at the time. I have my issues with the way this was handled, but the fact that the guy had a go bag ready, etc is not what generally happens in these cases. Seems to me in all the other cases around here, the guy gets accused. An investigation is begun, a trial is held, and they go free or serve their time. Most of these guys seem pretty weak and dont run. They get picked up when the evidence has been analyzed.

This was an unusual case as far as I can tell in terms of flight and being able to survive this long without getting caught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The number one reason the panicked decision to have Toth escorted out by Cathedral Security was made instead of the police being summoned was to protect the school's reputation.

It's disgusting. I think enough was known that was "off", like him living in the classroom, that the people who turned a blind eye were trying to cover themselves. Sadly, I think they had record applications the following year.

I also hope that they are sued. Those poor kids.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
It's disgusting. I think enough was known that was "off", like him living in the classroom, that the people who turned a blind eye were trying to cover themselves. Sadly, I think they had record applications the following year.

I also hope that they are sued. Those poor kids.

This is a pretty serious accusation to make based on something you "think". How would you like anonymous posters to make serious accusations about you based on what they think?

Given that you are sorry the school may have received record applications and you hope the school gets sued, I am not sure that you are a very objective source.

I would really like posters -- especially those with obvious grudges against the school -- to stop making unsupported speculations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait--I am late to this conversation. How did he get hired by Potomac. Wouldn't he have had to have references from Beauvoir?

Uh-huh. Probably received a glowing recommendation from the same person who called the security officer to walk him out after he was confronted about the pictures.

Dirty pool to do that to Potomac. B knew he had at least one screw loose.

He was, in fact given a BAD reference by the school. But parents raved about him, and he did what he does, he charmed his way into Potomac, as he has charmed parents and children for years. That is why he is so dangerous. He is very good at manipulating people

Okay, seriously. He received a BAD reference by the school.

That is what we, parents of the 3rd grade class when this went down, were told. But he simultaniously received outstanding references from some parents which with his charm somehow convinced his to be new employer to discount the poor reference. He in turn had outstanding past references when he was hired at Beauvoir. The guy is simply a master con man and predator. The term of art is "Grooming" and this person groomed not just little boys, but mom's and dad's too.

As for 20/20 on whether the civilian Cathedral police should have physically restrained him, who knows. My understanding was a kid took a camera from Toth's then empty classroom to another teacher to get batteries since it was dead. This was graduation day, and Toth's last day as a teacher there. When he/she put in the new batteries, and saw bad pictures on the camera, the cathedral and then the DC police were both immediately called. No one actually knew for fact whether this was his camera, his pics, etc. Sure, strong suspicions, but the camera didnt fall out of his pocket. This was all discovered by accident. I was furious myself at the time, being the parent of a then 3rd grade student there, but in hindsight, I think they made reasonable decisions based on the facts at the time. I have my issues with the way this was handled, but the fact that the guy had a go bag ready, etc is not what generally happens in these cases. Seems to me in all the other cases around here, the guy gets accused. An investigation is begun, a trial is held, and they go free or serve their time. Most of these guys seem pretty weak and dont run. They get picked up when the evidence has been analyzed.

This was an unusual case as far as I can tell in terms of flight and being able to survive this long without getting caught.

Was there an explanation as to how he found out that Beauvoir gave him a bad recommendation? So Potomac let him know? Hard to believe that Potomac would disregard any negative information that his current school (Beauvoir) would provide them over the impressions of a few parents, pretty risky for a school to do this. Describing him as charming is really laughable. I met him once, and certainly didn't find him endearing, charming or anything but strange.

If Beauvoir's impression of him was BAD so bad that they wouldn't even provide him a neutral recommendation, why was he allowed to finish out the school year? While the camera didn't fall out of his pocket, they knew he had been using it. And if saw them with that camera, he knew his gig was up.

I've not heard of a local case where a pedophile-teacher's evidence was discovered out in the open in his classroom. Can't really imagine why he wouldn't have run as soon as he could, psychologically weak or not. Hopefully, he will be caught and soon.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's disgusting. I think enough was known that was "off", like him living in the classroom, that the people who turned a blind eye were trying to cover themselves. Sadly, I think they had record applications the following year.

I also hope that they are sued. Those poor kids.

This is a pretty serious accusation to make based on something you "think". How would you like anonymous posters to make serious accusations about you based on what they think?

Given that you are sorry the school may have received record applications and you hope the school gets sued, I am not sure that you are a very objective source.

I would really like posters -- especially those with obvious grudges against the school -- to stop making unsupported speculations.

REALLY!!! Does Beauvoir pay you to keep defending them? i thought this was an open forum....You seem more like an inside ringer for the Beauvoir defense team!

[Anonymous]

People make wild accusations all throughout the forum, but you find the need to interject on Beauvoir's behalf? Why?