Yorktown teacher charged with exposing himself to teens at McLean gym

[Anonymous]

Two teens noticed that Thomas Lenihan had watched them in the shower and followed them around the locker room while exposing himself.

What on earth is wrong with men?! Why can't they control themselves?!

http://wtop.com/virginia/2017/01/arlington-co-teacher-arrested-indecent-exposure/

[Anonymous]

You should not be publicly judging him or even mentioning this here until the man is found guilty. You don't know the details, the "news" articles don't really provide any and what happened to innocent until proven guilty. There is likely more to the story but a naked man walking in a gym locker room is not unusual and who knows if the teenagers were just overreacting.

My best friend, a high school teacher, had his life ruined when a student accused him of improperly touching her because she was failing his class and he refused to change her grade. He lost his job, his house and his excellent reputation even though the police decided nothing happened and she later recanted.

You should be ashamed of yourself for wanting to spread speculation and gossip about this man when you have no idea what happened. Let the court judge him, not us.

[Anonymous]

Agree with pp.

Usually "indecent exposure" is code for masturbating. But we really don't have any idea what happened here. It could just as easily be a couple of vindictive students or former students.

I also challenge your gross generalization of "what is wrong with men?" Nothing is wrong with men. What is wrong with YOU?

[Anonymous]

There's this concept called probable cause, and the Police apparently had it. This is NOT speculation you idiot. It is a worthy story to follow to see if this teacher is a pervert or not. Notice the school has already put him on Admin. Leave, so this charge is not some jaywalking ticket. This is how life and the legal system works. Most people learn to avoid situations where you give Police probable cause to arrest you.

[Anonymous]

7:44 again. I'm a lawyer, so I know all about probable cause. I also know innocent until proven guilty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's this concept called probable cause, and the Police apparently had it. This is NOT speculation you idiot. It is a worthy story to follow to see if this teacher is a pervert or not. Notice the school has already put him on Admin. Leave, so this charge is not some jaywalking ticket. This is how life and the legal system works. Most people learn to avoid situations where you give Police probable cause to arrest you.

There's no "probable cause" here -- someone called the cops and they arrested him probably based on accusations from the boys. Probable cause means I'm going to search your car because I smell weed. Or I'm going to enter your house because I heard screaming. Maybe you should go back to civics class.

Hey, I realize that Donald Trump is systematically disassembling our democracy, but we still have this concept of "innocent until proven guilty." You, apparently, have already convicted him along with an entire gender.

Get. A. Grip.

[Anonymous]

Of course the school put him on administrative leave. They have no choice but to do that and it means nothing in terms of his guilt.

[Anonymous]

This is so wrong to release his name, photo, etc. His life is now ruined. A man cannot be naked in a gym locker room? If he is innocent, I hope he lawyers up and sues the teens, their parents, the school district, etc. Btw, this is a good reason not to go to gym. Any prepubescent kid can point at you, lie and you lose your job, life, family. This is some fucked up shit. Even with probable cause, it's only been hours and there's no way authorities had time to conduct proper investigation and determine guilt. I'd sue the police department as well if they did anything wrong. Fact is that even if the teens recant their story, this man is ruined. Search engines have a long memory and he'll always be cast as a pedo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is so wrong to release his name, photo, etc. His life is now ruined. A man cannot be naked in a gym locker room? If he is innocent, I hope he lawyers up and sues the teens, their parents, the school district, etc. Btw, this is a good reason not to go to gym. Any prepubescent kid can point at you, lie and you lose your job, life, family. This is some fucked up shit. Even with probable cause, it's only been hours and there's no way authorities had time to conduct proper investigation and determine guilt. I'd sue the police department as well if they did anything wrong. Fact is that even if the teens recant their story, this man is ruined. Search engines have a long memory and he'll always be cast as a pedo.

Not to mention that the 16 yo and 17 yo accusers were apparently showering together. Kind of hard to make a "pedo" argument -- in most places, 16 is the age of consent, anyway. It's not like he was leering at 7 yo boys.

We don't know what happened. But my "oh, bullshit" radar goes off when this has to do with a man being naked in a gym locker room. It's absolutely possible something untoward happened. It's equally possible there's a misunderstanding or the teens made a wrong/false accusation for some reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's this concept called probable cause, and the Police apparently had it. This is NOT speculation you idiot. It is a worthy story to follow to see if this teacher is a pervert or not. Notice the school has already put him on Admin. Leave, so this charge is not some jaywalking ticket. This is how life and the legal system works. Most people learn to avoid situations where you give Police probable cause to arrest you.

There's no "probable cause" here -- someone called the cops and they arrested him probably based on accusations from the boys. Probable cause means I'm going to search your car because I smell weed. Or I'm going to enter your house because I heard screaming. Maybe you should go back to civics class.

Hey, I realize that Donald Trump is systematically disassembling our democracy, but we still have this concept of "innocent until proven guilty." You, apparently, have already convicted him along with an entire gender.

Get. A. Grip.

NP here. I don't generally disagree with you but the probable cause requirement also applies to arrests, not just searches. That is, police can make an arrest even without a warrant if they have probable cause. But the police are not the judge and jury, certainly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's this concept called probable cause, and the Police apparently had it. This is NOT speculation you idiot. It is a worthy story to follow to see if this teacher is a pervert or not. Notice the school has already put him on Admin. Leave, so this charge is not some jaywalking ticket. This is how life and the legal system works. Most people learn to avoid situations where you give Police probable cause to arrest you.

There's no "probable cause" here -- someone called the cops and they arrested him probably based on accusations from the boys. Probable cause means I'm going to search your car because I smell weed. Or I'm going to enter your house because I heard screaming. Maybe you should go back to civics class.

Hey, I realize that Donald Trump is systematically disassembling our democracy, but we still have this concept of "innocent until proven guilty." You, apparently, have already convicted him along with an entire gender.

Get. A. Grip.

NP here. I don't generally disagree with you but the probable cause requirement also applies to arrests, not just searches. That is, police can make an arrest even without a warrant if they have probable cause. But the police are not the judge and jury, certainly.

pp here. Fair enough. But I would say there's plenty of reasonable doubt that will make it difficult to convict him of anything.

[Anonymous]

Not sure about this particular incident but 100% agree with OP about:

What on earth is wrong with men?! Why can't they control themselves?!

Seriously. So many pervs. Just look at the convicted sex offenders in your own town. Disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's this concept called probable cause, and the Police apparently had it. This is NOT speculation you idiot. It is a worthy story to follow to see if this teacher is a pervert or not. Notice the school has already put him on Admin. Leave, so this charge is not some jaywalking ticket. This is how life and the legal system works. Most people learn to avoid situations where you give Police probable cause to arrest you.

If it is a "worthy story to follow" than go ahead and by all means follow it. But rumors and gossip is what you're looking for and trying to whip up.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea what happened here, but teachers are like sitting ducks for this kind of accusation. Who knows what happened - it may be exactly as described, or it could be totally innocent, or maybe he caught them doing something so they accused him first? You just don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what happened here, but teachers are like sitting ducks for this kind of accusation. Who knows what happened - it may be exactly as described, or it could be totally innocent, or maybe he caught them doing something so they accused him first? You just don't know.

I'm a teacher and this kind of thing concerns me as well. Our school currently has a student who is aggressive and combative and whose parents think the world is out to get them. This student shoved their teacher in front of the whole class and then stated that they were going to tell their parents that the teacher hit them. The entire class witnessed what actually happened but because the student made the accusation and the parents came in guns blazing there has to be an administrative investigation and the teacher has to be on leave during it. Even when it's proven to be false it will still have to go on the teacher's record and will most likely impact that teacher's career (the teacher is in an admin prep program) because schools would rather hire people with no potentially controversial marks on their record. Even though the teacher did absolutely nothing wrong and there were 20 something witnesses.

I am NEVER alone with students and I always have my classroom door open and position myself as close to the open door as possible. Even that may not be enough protection if a student wants to make a false accusation.

I have no idea what actually happened in this case but it is scary to be a teacher these days with savvy students and parents who know how the system works if they have an ax to grind.