KEY POINTS

  • The accused, 43-year-old James Baird worked with visually impaired students
  • Baird was charged for sexually abusing the girls on premises of three schools
  • He faces multiple counts of first and second-degree criminal sexual conduct

A former teacher in Michigan who worked with visually impaired students has been charged with sexually assaulting four young girls aged 10 to 15 at three schools in Detroit suburbs.

James Baird, a 43-year-old vision specialist from Plymouth, allegedly assaulted the girls in four separate incidents between January 2018 and February 2020, Up North Live reported.

The first alleged assault involving a 10-year-old girl occurred at a school in Garden City on Jan. 4, 2018. Baird faces one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct against a person under 13 in connection with the case.

The man sexually assaulted the unidentified victim multiple times while administering vision tests, Wayne County prosecutors said in a news release Wednesday.

Baird is also accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at a school in Westland after blindfolding her in March 2018. He faces one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct against a person under 13.

Furthermore, the man also faces charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct against a person under 13 for the alleged abuse of an 11-year-old girl. The incident occurred at a school in Garden City in May 2019, when the victim was blindfolded and sexually assaulted, prosecutors said.

In February 2020, Baird allegedly blindfolded and abused a 15-year-old girl at a school in Westland. He has been charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the incident.

Baird was arraigned on his cases in Garden City and Westland on Wednesday, during which he was given a total of $115,000 personal bond. He was also ordered to be on a GPS tether. Baird is scheduled to appear in court for his next hearings on Feb. 9 and Feb. 13, WXYZ reported.

In a similar incident in October last year, an elementary school teacher from California was arrested for sexually abusing two 7-year-old students during an after-school art program. Stephen Eugene Thai was arrested following complaints that he had sexually assaulted two students at a San Jose school between 2016 and 2017. Thai faces multiple charges, including charges of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14 and contacting a minor to commit a sex crime, reports said.

Representational image (arrest)
Representational image (Source: Pixabay / ID 4711018)