by KYW's Brad Segall
An English teacher at Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School in Spring House (Montgomery County), Pa. is under arrest, accused of having a sexual relationship with one of his students several years ago.
Prosecutors say the girl, now 21, was a ninth grader at the school in 2002 when she says an instant messaging and e-mail relationship began with her teacher, Patrick Clugston.
She says they would meet three times a week in his classroom and the school newspaper office, where there was touching and fondling.
Montgomery County district attorney Risa Ferman says the girl is coming forward now because of concerns that he may have done this with other girls:
"As a teacher, particularly an English teacher, you expect him to instill a love of literature and study. Instead, he was trying to expose her to lust and sexuality. That is completely inappropriate."
And Ferman says the Lansdale man, 44, told police he was flattered by the attention she gave him:
"She was a ninth-grade little girl. She was at such a young and tender age that anything she might have said or done would not ever justify the conduct in which we believe he has engaged."
Clugston is charged with indecent assault, child endangerment, and corruption of minors.
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