I can't believe that came from your mouth!
Joe Ballmann- Teacher and Kid Toucher
Another local teacher was busted trying to get his man-boy love on. Sick bastard was supposed to be teaching English, but from everything I’ve read, he was doing everything except for teaching. He had foosball tournaments in his classroom.
Ballmann let kids play a playstation in his classroom. He built obstacle courses out of filing cabinets. As far as reading went, it was comic books and Simpsons cartoons. And of course, there was the project where students made funny videos and watched Saturday Night Live skits.
He also got nominated for teacher of the year- somehow. Maybe it was for giving great massages to his boy students, ’cause it certainly wasn’t for teaching. Yet one more reason to homeschool, folks.
From Gazette.net here:
An English teacher at a Rockville middle school who had chloroform and torn pictures of children in his home has been arrested for sexually abusing a student on numerous occasions.
Joseph Robert Ballmann, 47, of the 11100 block of Cedarwood Drive, is being held on $150,000 bond on charges of sexual abuse of a minor, third-degree sexual offense and sexual solicitation of a minor.
A now 15-year-old boy told police that Ballmann engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with him beginning when the boy was a seventh-grader at Robert Frost Middle School and continuing into the next school year. (That’s 12 years old, folks!)
The incidents occurred at Ballmann’s home between spring 2004 and May 2005.
Ballmann has been employed by Montgomery County Public Schools for about 18 years. He was placed on administrative leave from Robert Frost on Wednesday.
A search of Ballmann’s home turned up a pipe that appeared to be a bomb, explosives, handcuffs, chloroform, mace, pepper spray, torn pictures of children in the garbage and a handgun.
From NBC4 here:
The victim told police that he would visit Ballman’s house because the two had developed a close relationship. The teen said that on several occasions Ballmann showed him pornographic video, on five occasions he was given massages and on two occasions he was naked and Ballmann touched him inappropriately.
When I was a kid, my english teachers made me conjugate verbs and taught me sentence structure. And what is the deal with the chloroform and the torn up pictures of kids?
| Print article | This entry was posted by Dr. Jones on May 7, 2007 at 4:08 pm, and is filed under Crime, Why Homeschool?, You're Fired!. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 4 years ago
On any given day in the world, about 30,000 people DIE of hunger and other deptrivations. Torture, murder, and mutilations are common. Our law enforcement are overwhelmed with unsolved murder cases. Yet all of that is nothing to the zealot on a crusade over someone touching someone else’s genitals. What does that say about their values and priorities?
about 4 years ago
Hey Obama,
You are stupid as you suck at psychology. Projection is what you are doing to me by assigning me some type of victimhood because I spoke the truth about a kid-touching teacher.
And so what is your point about worldwide crime statistics? You think no one should prosecute child molesters until all murders are solved?
Stop googling “teacher toucher” you perv from Pearland, TX.
about 4 years ago
I knew him when he was 15 and he would steal comic books from a comic book store that we both worked at, something he accused me of without my knowing to shift blame from himself to me, and I am still trying to get over that 33 years later, one false rumor can follow a person around for the rest of their lives! He would also talk nonstop about the owner of the store being a “latent pedophile” (another false rumor of his to shift concern)and he was ALWAYS manipulating anyone he could that he deemed lesser than himself. (which was almost everyone he came in contact with)
Like a lot of people that do really bad things to other people he was VERY careful so he could claim (and “prove”)innocence and hide behind a front of “good deeds”, he’s a snake in the grass and should confess to the world about everyone he has harmed.
I am one of his earliest victims, not sexually abused but socially accused and condemnd to a less fulfilling life because of him.
about 4 years ago
Iknewhimwhen:
I hope you can use the knowlege that he is facing harsh justice as comfort to you so you can get past what has turned out to be a lifelong grudge. And of all of the descriptions of this evil man, yours sounds like the most on-target. Thanks for sharing.
about 4 years ago
wow. I had him for 7th grade english at Westland in 94-95, and I remember the clique of students he always seemed to have in his classroom at lunch and after school.
Yes, he did encourage a fun and casual vibe in his classes. Yes I did learn a lot, and enjoy his method of teaching. NO, I don’t think that somehow makes what he did any less disgusting.
I know it’s a bit cliched for me to say that I could sense something sort of off about him, but it’s true. Because I was a female student of his, he didn’t have much interest in me in an etra-curricular sense, but as a trauma survivor, you learn to smell a predator, even if they’re not targeting you in particular.
I’m pretty sure I remember him chaperoning some overnight school trips. God knows how many kids he got to who never said a word about him being inappropriate.
about 4 years ago
He was a great teacher. One of the best I ever had. He managed to simultaneously motivate the slackers to participate and provide enough substance in his lessons to keep the interest of the smart kids.
That being said, it was clear he never really grew up. I would guess he had a rough time in high school for whatever reason. He also favorited/hung around with the “cool kids”, to the point where it was definitely a bit unusual. Seemed like he wanted to be one of them. Unfortunately, humans are such sexual beings that such a fixation often ends up being not so harmless.
Either way, I believe he’s a decent man with a problem. 5 years is pretty appropriate punishment I think. Mandate therapy and keep him away from kids, and he should still be able to be a functioning member of society.
(1st year Ph.D student in psychology, had him for one year at Frost)
about 3 years ago
I am a former student of Mr. Ballman too, during 2000, and I have to say, he is truly one kickass teacher. He was a very fun person to be around, and he showed me how to enjoy writing. A shame he was born with this problem, but that does not diminish what he did for everyone else. I see tons of comments praising Mr. Ballman’s teaching, and I have to agree with them.
You, Mr. Blogger, should learn to stop demonizing others and stealing up the pain of others for your own grandstanding. The kid wasn’t the only victim of this tragedy; the former students of this amazing teacher are saddened by the loss of this great educator from the MCPS system.
about 3 years ago
Student,
You are a sadly mistaken person if you think Ballman was “born” with a problem of molesting children. He made a choice to do it. Its not genetic, and therefore, inexcusable. Its not like being born black.
Are you born this stupid that you excuse heinous crimes in others but have the balls to scold me, a total stranger who is exercising freedom of speech? So compared to a child-raping monster like Ballman, I’m the bad guy??
And as I repeated often above, and something you need to learn as a young adult entering the real world- Ballman was a lousy teacher. He used his job as an opportunity to rape children. Anyone who uses their job to deliberately commit a crime automatically makes them suck at their job.
This is a fundamental fact of life and you need to learn it. If you can’t grasp this you need to talk to a counselor about whatever it is that is wrong with you that makes you easily forgive a monster who did this to children. You could have been a victim too.
about 3 years ago
Pat, you have used the term rape twice in your latest post. What crime was Ballmann convicted of? Are you sure you are commenting on the right case here? Is it possible you are mixing up the acts Ballmann was convicted of with other cases you are monitoring? Perhaps you should go back through your postings here as well as postings on other cases and make sure you haven’t made other errors. Or do you refer to any crime against a child by that term? I think it would be better to be more precise and accurate.
about 3 years ago
Observer, thanks for pointing that out. Ballmann was a perverted 47-year-old who groomed children by befriending them and luring them to his home where he would show them pornography and then sexually assault them. A 47 year old forcing himself on an unconsenting child is RAPE.
Out of curiosity, why are you splitting hairs on the definition I use? Why do you think I need to be more precise?
about 3 years ago
I happened onto this website while trying to research Asperger’s syndrome. What strikes me about most of the postings is the high degree of anger and hatred for this person (has he even been proven guilty yet?) If you really care, get off your computer and volunteer in your community to help people who have problems. You may not be a sex offender, but no one of us is perfect. We all have problems that we need help with. Additionally we all have time we can give to help others less fortunate. Spewing hatred and anger does little to help those of us who have been victims of child sexual abuse, and yes, I am one of those people. Forgiveness and a desire to understand how to help these offenders in the future–so that someday these problems will no longer exist–these are the needs–not a metaphorical stoning.
about 3 years ago
“so that someday these problems will no longer exist…”
whatever you’re smoking, please share it. the world will NEEVER be rid of pedophiles. this man hurt children, and as someone who was also the victim of childhood sexual abuse, i feel entirely justified in my anger. it is a totally natural and healthy reaction, and for you to try to convince me that i’m being ridiculous because i post a comment on an blog is a testament to how much more time you need to spend in therapy working out your own denial. sure victims need to be able to move on from their past trauma, but that doesn’t mean that we should gloss over the serious nature of Ballmann’s behavior. for you to assume that just because the people posting comments here don’t do things to contribute positively to the community is completely baseless. I am a former student of his, and I can tell you first-hand that there seemed to be something a little off about him, which i picked up at age 12. Not that i assumed that he was touching kids back then, but he made me uncomfortable. Even if he hasn’t yet been convicted, the allegations are coming from former students of varying ages, some of whom have no connection to each other whatsoever. this is a pretty clear indication that something inappropriate happened. why are you so quick to jump to his defense without having known the man at all?
about 3 years ago
Court records indicate that on 11/07/08 Joseph Ballmann pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of a minor child and one count of exhibition of obscene movies to a minor.
Following his guilty pleas, Ballmann’s bond was revoked and he was remanded to custody pending sentencing. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
And Bethechange, you cannot forgive someone until they ask for it. Did your molester ask you for forgiveness?
And no, we dont all have problems that require help. Survivors of sex trauma do and I hope you can get yours.
about 3 years ago
Pat, You Suck
about 3 years ago
One of the tragedies of Ballmann’s case, or that of any other teacher who sexually abuses kids, is the effect it has on all the good teachers out there who work hard to make sure kids in general get a good education. Teachers who are dedicated and whose conduct is unimpeachable, which compose the wide majority of them. It puts into question any teacher who goes the extra mile for students. I suppose I was fortunate that I never had any teachers that abused their students. Some were of lousy quality, but most did a good and/or even outstanding job educating me…like the math teacher who always took extra time after class to tutor me on a particularly difficult problem. I wonder how many teachers out of fear of being branded as a molestor won’t tutor kids one on one alone after class or otherwise provide help outside of the assigned class period. Let’s be clear, Ballmann and those like him are responsible for this sad state of affairs. He was the “cool” teacher who tried to make learning fun, but in retrospect it is clear that this was all a ruse to lure kids in. I guess what concerns me is how many qualified or innovative teachers ideas will be stifled or will be discouraged because of the environment of suspicion created by this. I do not have a solution for it, but it just
about 3 years ago
seems like a sad state of affairs.
about 11 months ago
Pat, your comments are all misguided and irrelevant.
about 11 months ago
Care to explain how my comments are misguided or irrelevant? Did Joe touch you too?