Channel 2 Action News has learned that a retired Clayton County school teacher has been indicted for child molestation involving a young student.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne spoke to Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley on Wednesday, who said, “We’re looking forward to trying this case and … getting our young victim the justice she deserves.”
He also got a text from the suspect, William Zerressen, saying he is innocent.
The mom of the victim said she learned of the indictment against Zerressen after a Clayton County grand jury handed it down last month.
“It’s actually moving forward,” she told Winne. “God is just, he’s with me. He, it feels like he’s present because just sending the right people in our lives to actually help us get to the finish line.”
Zerressen was supposed to help her daughter learn about reading, writing and arithmetic at Kemp Primary School where he was her daughter’s first-grade teacher in the 2017-18 school year.
“I’m glad about the four extra charges, but we still have a long way to go,” the mother said.
TRENDING STORIES:
- ‘Chases shouldn’t happen:’ Lawmakers demand change after 19-year-old killed during GSP chase
- Georgia special tax refund: Who’s eligible, how much you’ll get, how you’ll receive it
- Authorities searching for woman who vanished after getting into rideshare in Hall County
The mother told Winne that she counts four new charges in the indictment compared to the warrants originally issued for Zerressen last year after a Clayton County Schools police investigation.
The seven counts in the indictment include enticing a child for indecent purposes, enticing the child to his classroom at Kemp Primary School for the purpose of child molestation.
Other counts include aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, sexual contact by a person of trust in the first degree, two child molestation counts and a sexual battery against a child under 16 count.
In each count, the mother said her daughter is the victim.
“I’m innocent of these despicable allegations. They’re just ridiculous, they’re unfounded,” Zerressen told Winne last year.
In a text on Wednesday, Zerressen wrote: “I am innocent, and I had agreed to take a polygraph.”
The mother said last September, she watched our interview with Zerressen months before the indictment.
“I’m not gonna lie, I was in tears,” she said. “This is a grown man. I was hurt. I was angry.”
“It’s totally untrue. It’s slander,” Zerressen said at the time. “It’s totally unfounded and I’ll be found innocent.”
A 2022 Clayton County Public Schools letter said: “In 2001, you were alleged to have touched several students butts while they were wearing skirts. In 2003. You were accused of touching a student’s thigh, butt, and private parts. In 2022, the student alleged that anytime she wore skirts or dresses,that you touched her legs.”
The letter indicates Zerressen said he was told by an assistant principal that students got together and planned previous allegations.
“How do you explain this seeming pattern of complaints?” Winne asked Zerressen at the time.
“Well, it’s not really a pattern. It was like once, twice or three times. They were found groundless. So, I was cleared of any wrongdoing,” Zerressen said.
An attorney for the mom and daughter, Kyle Wallace, said last year records he’s reviewed show the school system found insufficient evidence in the ’01 and ’03 incidents at Lake Ridge Elementary, But while school police did a good job with his clients’ case, he found no indication of discipline or that police were called to investigate the other incidents.
“A lot of prayer and therapy still, but for the most part it’s just, it’s God is helping me through it,” the mother told Winne.
A 2023 letter congratulated Zerressen on his retirement.
Wallace said he and attorney Corey Stern are looking at whether the school system has liability.
Winne contacted Clayton County Schools on Wednesday and was told there was no additional statement, but last year an email said in part, “We remind all stakeholders that the safety and security of all students are paramount.”
©2025 Cox Media Group
