By Bob Allen
An Alabama grand jury indicted a former teacher and Southern Baptist youth minister March 6 on eight counts of sexual abuse 20 years after he avoided firing from his school-teacher job for similar allegations.
Daniel Acker, who retired in 2009 after teaching 23 years in public schools in the Birmingham suburb of Alabaster, Ala., now faces charges involving six different victims. Two of them came forward since his Jan. 4 arrest stunned a community ranked No. 85 on Money Magazine’s 100 Best Places to Live in 2009.
Police say that when he was brought in for questioning two months ago, Acker confessed to abusing more than 20 girls during his career as a teacher. Police now are asking other victims to come forward and say the case will remain open until they are satisfied that everyone who wants to come forward has the opportunity to do so.
One of the women accusing Acker is the girl who told a neighbor that Acker touched her inappropriately in 1991. That led to a 1992 grand jury investigation that did not result in an indictment. The school board placed him on leave during the probe and planned to fire him, until members of the church where he was serving as youth minister showed up at a meeting and convinced the school district to let him keep his job.