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Ex-A.J. teacher wanted by police caught in Okla.
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After more than two years of hiding from police, former Apache Junction teacher and youth pastor Bobby Kennedy was arrested by U.S. Marshals Tuesday in Oklahoma.
Kennedy, 29, was a teacher at Morningstar Academy, a small charter school, in early 2005, when he was accused of molesting several teenage students.
SPECIAL REPORT: Tribune looks into sexual misconduct in schools
He was arrested, but after posting $150,000 bail, he disappeared sometime after Aug. 23, 2005, leading the Apache Junction police to place him on their "most wanted" list.
Shortly afterward, his mother, Carolyn Kennedy, who is the school's principal, pleaded no contest to charges of failing to report abuse of a minor.
According to police and court records, Bobby Kennedy was accused of inappropriately touching one 15-year-old student, kissing her in a classroom and later trying to kiss her in a janitor's closet.
Several months later, two other girls told police similar stories. One of them, a 14-year-old girl, accused him of telling her and another student that he would fail them if they didn't take pictures of themselves naked in the school bathroom with his cell phone. Students in his classroom also told police that Bobby Kennedy showed them photos of nude adults on his phone - an accusation he later told police was true.
Kennedy denied molesting the girls, claiming they had initiated contact with him.
According to a statement issued by Deputy U.S. Marshal Matt Hershey, Kennedy ran away to Southern California before rejoining his family, then moving to Oklahoma.
Marshals began hunting for Kennedy in March 2006, at the request of the Apache Junction Police Department. Recently, they discovered that Kennedy was living in Lawton, Okla., with his wife and small child. Deputies began surveillance of his residence, and shortly after they arrested him.
Investigators from Apache Junction police are coordinating with the marshals regarding additional investigative leads, and will pursue additional charges against co-conspirators, according to Hershey's statement.
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