OGDEN (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Elizabeth Neff
The Salt Lake Tribune
OGDEN - Furrowing her brow and pausing, the tiny, blond 6-year-old said she was coloring a picture of Jesus when it happened.
Her Mormon church teacher, she said, came up from behind and touched her "privates."
Although it made her feel "mad," she said she didn't tell anyone about the abuse. When she eventually did, her frantic mother drove to the home of a friend and then to the home of another girl who made the same claim. On the drive over, she pulled the car over to pray for guidance.
The first day of trial for a former Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teacher accused of child sexual abuse began Monday against a backdrop of religion and sin in the small community of Syracuse.
Prosecutors argue Aaron Marcos Montoya fondled three kindergartners in a church class he taught with his wife. Two of the three girls testified Monday, sitting on top of a folded blanket so those in the packed courtroom could see their faces above the witness box. The alleged abuse might never have come to light had it not been for the older brother of the first girl to testify.
The 12-year-old boy said he told his mother he had overheard his sister and a friend talking about "something serious" on the school bus.
The boy testified a girl who had recently moved into the neighborhood asked his sister, "Does he touch you like this?" and grabbed her crotch. His sister, he said, replied affirmatively.