Charges Dropped Against Teacher Accused of Sex with Student

The state has dropped charges against Scott Spear, a former teacher at Julius West Middle School, who had been with a 16-year-old student at Richard Montgomery High School.

In a press statement, the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office said the case has been dropped due to a "major flaw" in Maryland's sexual offense laws.

"The way the current law is written, the accused must be "a full-time, permanent employee" of the school.  In this case, Mr. Spear was not a full-time employee at the school the girl attended.  While he may have been her teacher when she was in middle school, he was not at the time of the allegations.  The age of consent in Maryland is 16.  Therefore, the State could not move forward on the charges and subsequently moved to drop the charges against the defendant.  This action was not done due to an inability to move forward on the evidence.  Rather, it is solely due to a technicality in Maryland's law."

Spear was previously scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday for a hearing. 

He was originally arrested on Feb. 2. Police said Spear had sex on two occasions with a 16-year-old girl who was his former student at , where he teaches social studies. Spear later coached the girl in track at , police said.

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