Tulsa World: Tulsa middle school teacher charged with lewd molestation

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Tulsa middle school teacher charged with lewd molestation

John C. Gisler

By ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
Published: 7/8/2009 1:34 PM
Last Modified: 7/8/2009 7:48 PM

Documents: View a copy of the affidavit.

A Whitney Middle School teacher has been charged with lewd molestation, forcible sodomy and second-degree rape involving a boy he mentored with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

John C. Gisler, 41, who has worked as a science teacher at Tulsa’s Whitney Middle School since August 2005, was charged in Tulsa County District Court on Monday.

Gisler worked previously as a teacher at Clyde Boyd Middle School and Central Junior High in Sand Springs and Sapulpa Middle School. Before that, he worked as a special education paraprofessional, working with middle-schoolers in Jenks Public Schools and working with high-schoolers at Tulsa’s Edison Preparatory School.

Court records indicate that the charges against Gisler stem from January 2006.

Tulsa Police Officer Leland Ashley said a 17-year-old boy reported to officers on June 15 that Gisler, who was his mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma, had been molesting him since he was 14.

According to a police affidavit filed in court, detectives recorded a phone call that the boy made to Gisler in mid-June in which Gisler “made admissions of guilt, specifically apologizing to the victim for 'hurting him sexually.’”

The affidavit goes on to state “the defendant threatened suicide and begged the victim not to tell anyone. The defendant stated that if the victim disclosed the abuse he would lose his job and go to jail for a long time.”

The boy told police that Gisler initially paid him to masturbate and then the abuse evolved into oral and anal sex.

“The allegations came out when he was speaking with a therapist. Once we investigated and forwarded the case on to the district attorney’s office, a warrant was issued for his arrest,” Ashley said.

Gisler was arrested Tuesday afternoon and bonded out of the Tulsa Jail later that evening, according to records.

An official with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma declined to say when Gisler volunteered with the organization, although she said he is not currently involved.

“We are alarmed and deeply saddened by reports of any child being harmed. Because there is an ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate and irresponsible for us to discuss or speculate about any specifics,” said Sharla Hall, chief executive officer for the organization.

“We have zero tolerance for abuse. Our volunteers and staff undergo thorough screening and background checks and we provide ongoing professional support for our children and families.”

Officials with the Tulsa Public Schools compliance office and campus police department are investigating whether any activities occurred on school property or with TPS students.

“Even though we’ve been assured the allegations do not involve Whitney students, we are conducting our own investigation to ensure the safety and security of our students,” Superintendent Keith Ballard said in a press statement.

Lloyd Snow, superintendent of Sand Springs Public Schools, said Gisler was a valued teacher and coach at that district from fall 2001 through spring 2005.

“Mr. Gisler was considered a pretty effective teacher. We had no incidents with him whatsoever,” Snow said. “He did a little coaching for us in the middle grades like eighth-grade or ninth-grade basketball. In fact, we were a little bit disappointed that he left us to go to Tulsa.”

Snow said Gisler had even earned some national recognition for overcoming a hearing impairment.

Gisler’s employment application at TPS, which the Tulsa World obtained through an open records request, states that he held a temporary position as a science teacher at Sapulpa Middle School from February through May 2001 and that he worked before that as a paraprofessional at Edison Preparatory School in Tulsa from August 2000 through February 2001.

A spokeswoman for the Jenks school district verified that Gisler was a paraprofessional working with middle-schoolers in that district from September 1996 to August 2000.

Gisler also served as an assistant junior varsity baseball coach for summer league teams at Bishop Kelley High School in 1995 and 1997. Rev. Brian O’Brien, the president of the school, said Gisler was a volunteer, not a paid employee, and that there were never any complaints made about him.

Tulsa World archive stories from 1995 list a John Gisler as the sports coordinator at the Thornton Family YMCA and as a camp director at the Bixby YMCA, now known as Daily Family YMCA.

Officials at the YMCA of Greater Tulsa said they only keep employment records for seven years, so they couldn’t say if it was the same man.

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By ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "Teacher charged with sex crimes," which was published on 7/9/2009. So far, 125 comments have been made.