CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. — A Kernersville teacher was placed on probation Wednesday after she was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a child in Catawba County more than 25 years ago.
A judge in Catawba Superior Court gave Darlene Fenners Melton, 56, who was a teacher in the Hickory City Schools at the time of the incident, a suspended prison sentence of three to 10 years and placed her on probation for three years, the Catawba County District Attorney’s office said.
Melton was accused of taking indecent liberties with a 15-year-old student in August 1987, the district attorney’s office said. At the time, Melton was 30.
Melton admitted the relationship to school officials at the time, officials said, but no charges were filed.
After she resigned from her position in Hickory, she obtained a job with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and taught at East Forsyth High School, said Theo Helm, a spokesman for the local school system.
The school system suspended her after the allegations were brought to light and later dismissed her, Helm said.
There were no complaints here against Melton, Helm said.
JIM TOM
if this is her at 56 i bet she was even hotter at 30. that man boy should have got a trophy
Faye Farlow
Are you sick in the head?What a remark about a young boy!!!!!
JIM TOM
she may have just been teaching this young man the birds and the bees
Raven Youngblood
LOL, you know he was bragging to his buddies….
GDM
Haha @ Jim. Well if they are not going to do due diligence by running a background check then why do they all of a sudden care what she did in the past now anyway?
Marquita Ellen Hunter Still
makes me sick. she did WRONG with this child! she needs a bigger sentence!
Pasqualeena
25 YEARS AGO?? That’s Rediculous!!.. Now it bothers him??…was probably looking for Money compensation
GDM
No. Read the article again. She paid the price and did probation. Now another district she works for heard about it and fired her.
BBrown
No, she was placed on probation THIS WEEK for the incident that happened 25 years ago. She was released from her current position when the incident was found out about. She should have been charged then. I don’t understand why she was allowed to work for another NC school system. Apparently nobody made a phone call to check her work reference, at the very least. Obviously no criminal charges would have shown up but a phone call was all it would have taken to find out.
MiMi LLawsonn
So Winston Salem Forsyth County Schools did not do a criminal search on her before hiring her as a teacher. The article states that she admitted to the relationship but NO CHARGES WERE FILED….so they wait until 25 years has passed and charged her now. So are the court systems this far behind?
sunnygirlversustherainyworld
They may very well have done a criminal search on her. She was never charged back then so nothing would have shown regarding this. A simple telephone call to check a job reference would have solved the problem in this situation, though.
JIM TOM
probably not.
Defamation and Slander … A neutral employment reference is essentially as follows: He worked here from this date to that date. His last job title was this
GDM
yeah this whole article is confusing.
Chris Boswell
What happened to the statute of limitations?
zb
Wish she would have taught me MMMMM mMMM MMMM
Cynthia
hahaha!!!
Just crazy
I think 25years later is a bit much, she admitted it back then and no one did anything. Just ban her from teaching, record should stay clear.
henry
im hot for teacher!!! if it had been a man he would be doing 25 years
Cynthia
these teachers just keep getting hotter
Jeanie Nelson
Why is she allowed around children at all. Pervert.
Jrj8563d
You people are sick! She was my teacher in 1997 and if it weren’t for her I wouldn’t have made it through that year. I was very sick and she was the only teacher that was nice enough to make sure I completed my school work in addtion to helping me work out my physically sick depression related issues. I’m not saying what she did was right. It was WRONG. But have some respect for the victims in this situation.
Cynthia
Jr… how are you calling yourself a victim in this case???? she was your former teacher and she didn’t physically harm you in any way.
Jrj8563d
I am not calling myself a victim. When did I say I was the victim? The families that have been affected by this are the victims. Glad I could clear that up for you.
DBG
haha holy shit what a lucky little fucker if thats her at 56 id smash it now her at 30 i would of beat the wheels off of it