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	Former Students, Friends Struggle to Sort It out Utin's Past, Present Many Blacksburg Residents Viewed Jonathan Utin, Charged with Sexual Abuse of a Teenager, As a Pillar of the Community By Tonia Moxley The Roanoke Times [Virginia] September 23, 2006 http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/83922 The greenhouse door stood open Friday afternoon at Jonathan Utin's house just across Toms Creek Road from Gilbert Linkous Elementary School. Over the years, children sometimes played there or learned about flowers and plants. And visitors on the town's Friendly Garden Tour sometimes milled about there, enjoying the landscape and the house with its large windows. Late-summer flowers waved in a slight breeze that played notes on cow-themed wind chimes in Utin's award-winning garden Friday. But no one answered several knocks. Utin was sitting in a jail cell in Ohio, watched by cameras lest he try to harm himself again. He is accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl from that state. Thursday night, Utin suffered a serious head injury after jumping off a sink twice and driving his head into a metal bedpost, Middletown police Sgt. John Terrill said. He was taken to Middletown Regional Hospital, where his head wound was closed with 12 staples. By the side door of Utin's house, his ripe tomatoes rotted on their vines. Down the street, Steve Watson sat in a chair in his living room, mulling over the reported confession of the man he called a "dear and wonderful friend." Ohio police say Utin, 64, told them he abused children over three decades as a Blacksburg teacher, swim club manager and Sunday school leader. It was through a mutual passion for gardening that Watson met Utin about four years ago. Watson and his wife had just moved to the neighborhood but were having trouble putting out a garden. That's when Utin the master gardener "came over with his big tiller and his skills." And without being asked, he put in that garden. "He was a friend to the whole neighborhood and the community," Watson said. The allegations and Utin's apparent confession "just catches you and you don't know what to say or how to help," Watson said. Similar dismay was apparent around Blacksburg, as residents struggled to come to grips with the accusation against a man who many saw as a pillar of the community. Blacksburg police said Friday they couldn't release any specific information in the ongoing investigation of possible sex crimes. Ohio police say Utin confessed to abusing the girl in the Ohio case in Blacksburg as well. "Right now there's a lot of unknowns," Blacksburg police spokesman Lt. Bruce Bradbery said. "We're going to wait and see how widespread, or not, this turns out to be." Bradbery said some people have come forward to talk about Utin, who was arraigned Friday in Middletown, Ohio, on one charge of gross sexual imposition of the 13-year-old. The father of the Ohio girl read a prepared statement to The Roanoke Times on Friday: "We are tremendously proud of this young woman. She came forward with one focus and that was to stop this man and to save future victims. We applaud her decision. "She and those who encouraged her are heroines in our eyes. Sexual abuse is an epidemic in our society. It is our prayer that through her bravery other people suffering come forward to seek the help that they need." Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Tiffany Anderson on Friday sent a letter to parents that said "no allegations of abuse involving the individual have been reported to the current Montgomery County School Board or the current human resource department." That contrasted slightly with a letter Anderson wrote Thursday that said "no incidents involving the individual have been reported to the Montgomery County School Board or human resources." Anderson did not return telephone calls Thursday or Friday seeking comment. Friday's letter went on to say that a support system of counselors from the school and the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley would be put in the schools to help students. In Blacksburg, Anna Calasanti wrestled with the news about her former teacher. The 23-year-old remembered him as "definitely the kind of teacher who inspired kids." But Calasanti also recalled that Utin may have brushed against the breast of one of her friends when they were in middle school. The mother took the friend out of Utin's class shortly after that. At the time, Calasanti said she just thought the mother was being overprotective. But on Friday, she said she was freaked out by the news of Utin's arrest and confession. "How is a teacher so cool and seedy at the same time? Is it just being around 13-year-old girls all the time? Does he just hit middle age and wig out?" she asked. Others who had known Utin as children were not so surprised by the charge, however. John Dickman now lives in North Carolina, but grew up in Blacksburg and played at Shawnee Swim Club in the mid-1980s. Utin managed the Shawnee pool for many years. Dickman said Friday that he remembers seeing Utin "making inappropriate contact with girls, playing in the pool with girls ... it was common knowledge that this guy had a thing for little girls." A check of court files in Montgomery County showed no prior charges against Utin. Ohio police said they also found no previous charges. Utin has not made the $500,000 bond ordered by an Ohio judge and remains in jail under close supervision. An Ohio lawyer, Paris Ellis, will represent him at a preliminary hearing on Sept. 28. Ellis did not return phone calls. A staffer in his office said his policy is not to comment on active cases. If a judge certifies the charge against Utin to a grand jury, Utin will be moved to the Butler County Jail in Hamilton, Ohio, said Middletown police Maj. Mark Hoffman. Utin taught in Blacksburg schools from 1968 until retiring in 2003. Until recently, he was a Sunday school teacher at Christ Episcopal Church in Blacksburg and had continued to teach in Montgomery County schools as a substitute. Staff writer Shawna Morrison contributed to this report.
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