By RANDY CHOW, ASHLEY BURKETT and MAXIMO LEGASPE

Anne Arundel County school board candidate Chuck Yocum made headlines when the Baltimore Banner appeared reported earlier this month, he was charged and acquitted of child sexual abuse three decades ago.

But he’s not the only Maryland school board candidate to run into legal trouble of one kind or another. Alverne W. Chesterfield, a candidate from Somerset County, had a peace order against him in 2022, which he said was related to a dispute with a neighbor. And the state filed a tax lien against the St. Louis County candidate. Mary’s, Brandie Edelen, in 2019.

The local news network found those two issues in a review of the Maryland and federal court records of all 109 school board candidates in the state. LNN found no court records for Yocum 1994 payment on a charge of child sexual abuse, meaning the records were likely expunged after a jury found him not guilty.

The analysis found far fewer legal problems among school board candidates than LNN found two years ago. In the 2022 election, LNN found 12 candidates who had faced tax liens and a Charles County candidate who had been accused of shoplifting several times.

This year, the most serious alleged crime among Maryland school board candidates involved Yocum.

Yocum, who was a special education and social studies teacher at Northeast High School in Anne Arundel County, was accused of child sexual abuse and perverted practices, The Washington Post reported more than 30 years ago.

Terrie Jahnigen Warfield, who says she testified against Yocum, said in a social media post last week that she had sex with Yocum when she was 16.

“I was emotionally, physically and mentally abused (by Yocum),” Warfied said. “I deserve justice and so does everyone else who is hurt.”

Contacted by LNN and asked for a response to the allegations, Yocum referenced a statement from Warfield’s mother, Kathy Burkhard. LNN could not independently verify the statement, but on Monday, the Baltimore Sun quote Burkhard said of her daughter: “She is incapable of telling the truth. I’ve had problems with her since she was almost 15.”

Although Yocum was found not guilty of criminal charges, school officials launched a thorough internal investigation, according to The Banner, to determine the validity of allegations that Yocum sexually harassed or made inappropriate comments to students as young as 13.

“Mr. Yocum was found not guilty of sexual misconduct in a criminal court. This investigation, however, looked into additional allegations against Mr. Yocum that were not criminal conduct, but possibly indicative of misconduct or immorality,” the internal report stated of the school’s 1994 investigation, which was reviewed by The Banner.

Yocum never returned to teaching after the Anne Arundel County Public Schools investigation, The Banner reported.

Six Anne Arundel Democrats, including County Executive Steuart Pittman, have called on Yocum to drop out of the school board race, citing child sex abuse allegations against him, The Banner reported.

The other legal issues Local News Network uncovered in its review of school board candidates are far less serious than those surrounding Yocum.

LNN found that Alverne W. “Chet” Chesterfield, who is running for Somerset County District 2 Board of Education, had a peace order issued against him on May 31, 2022, which was valid until December 6 of that year.

The order says, “He shall not abuse, he shall not contact, he shall not enter the residence,” but the court order does not detail the circumstances that led to the peace order, nor does it name the person who requested it.

When asked for comment about the peace order, Chesterfield told LNN, “There’s nothing to comment on really. It was just a dispute between me and my neighbor about the property line. That’s all.”

He said the disagreement was taken to court and the matter was resolved.

“It’s nothing serious,” he said.

LNN also found that Brandie Edelen, who is running for a school board seat in St. Mary’s, was filed against her in 2019 due to back taxes of $594.04.

Edelen said that at the time, she and her family were dealing with funeral expenses and the disposition of the estate of her late father, who died in March 2019. She said she was distracted and “just forgot to submit tax returns”. Filed in May 2019, lien cleared and tax paid in 2020.

LNN’s review of the candidates’ court records also found liens and other tax cases that may have been linked to other candidates but could not be conclusively linked to those candidates based on court and Board of Elections records state. This has happened in several cases where the candidates have common first and last names.

LNN only reported candidates whose dates of birth and addresses conclusively proved to be the person involved in those court cases.