A student teacher for the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut, Micah Brown, was arrested by the New York police after he travelled to New York to have sexual relations with girls between the ages of 14 and 16.
Brown, 30, allegedly met one 15-year-old girl in an AOL chat room, then continued to contact her through texting and eventually met her for sexual contact. The investigation began when the girl reported to the state police in Elbridge that she had sexual relations with Brown.
Deaf Community
Cooperative
This special report indicates that regardless of the school, deaf teachers are
being held to the same standard of conduct as teachers at a mainstream school. However,
this case is an unusual twist on the more common occurrence of deaf children
being preyed upon by
hearing adults.
In February, Brown not only met with the girl and had sexual contact, but also provided her with alcohol and marijuana. He had initiated contact with her in November of 2009 with the initial pretext of helping her with homework.
Brown was charged with two felony counts of “attempting to disseminate indecent material to a child,” according to the West Hartford News. The charges stem from allegations that instant messages, text messages, and emails sent by Brown discussed sexual conduct.
Micah Brown Loses Deaf
Teacher Status
The executive director of the American School for the Deaf, Edward Peltier,
reported in a release that Brown, who was not a staff member, will not be
returning to ASD due to the charges against him. His position as a middle
school student teacher was only supposed to last five weeks.
Brown, who is from Oregon, had been placed at the school several weeks prior by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology, according to Greg Levitas, speaking for the institute. Brown has been enrolled since September in the master’s of science in secondary education program at the Rochester, NY, school.
Photo shows Micah S. Brown.
