Teachers Huntington Beach Ca

An Orange County judge on Friday ruled that a Huntington Beach elementary school teacher accused of molesting his students is "factually innocent" of the charges. A jury found Jeffrey Kent Atkinson, 54, not guilty of the charges last month, but Superior Court Judge Dennis Choate's ruling goes further by expunging the records of his arrest. The records must be sealed immediately, then destroyed in two years, the order said.

School officials were tight-lipped Tuesday about allegations that a teacher at Portola Hills Elementary molested four boys, two of them students at the Trabuco Canyon school and two earlier at a Huntington Beach school. Jason Abhyankar, 26, pleaded not guilty Monday to four counts of inappropriately touching children under the age of 14, said Tori Richards, spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office. All of the alleged incidents took place on school grounds, she said.

An Orange County jury on Thursday acquitted a Huntington Beach elementary school teacher of molesting six girls, ending a case that divided the community and sparked charges that police had demonized the affectionate expressions of a decent man. Jeffrey Kent Atkinson, 54, was found not guilty on six of the nine original molestation charges. The other three were dropped by prosecutors during the weeklong trial in Santa Ana.

An Orange County judge on Friday ruled that a Huntington Beach elementary school teacher accused of molesting his students is "factually innocent" of the charges. A jury found Jeffrey Kent Atkinson, 54, not guilty of the charges last month, but Superior Court Judge Dennis Choate's ruling goes further by expunging the records of his arrest. The records must be sealed immediately, then destroyed in two years, the order said.