Attorney for Milton Union custodian accused of sexually assaulting student speaking out

The attorney for a former local school custodian facing child rape charges is now speaking out.

>>School district releases statement following Monday night’s emergency Milton-Union board meeting

Jerry North, a former Milton Union school custodian, was accused of sexually assaulting a child on school property back in May.

His attorney sent News Center 7 a letter.

“Our office represents Jerry North. The wild and unsubstantiated claims against Jerry are completely false. There is absolutely no corroborating evidence to support any claim that Mr. North did anything wrong and “eyewitnesses” identified by the accuser have come forward to tell the police that nothing happened. More recently, relatives of the accuser filed a lawsuit against the school asking for money. The school district has already denied these claims and the public should be aware that the allegations made in that complaint are contradicted by what these same people first told the police. It’s unreasonable to believe that so many people who have devoted their lives to helping students would ignore any legitimate accusation of this kind. This is not a case where no one was around, many people were identified and none of those individuals corroborated the allegations. In the past, these types of allegations ruined many innocent people’s lives. An uncorroborated allegation from a single source is inherently unreliable. The media coverage at this point has focused only on the salacious nature of the story which has had a part in upsetting people. If the case is not dropped, then those that know the story is false will come forward and testify in court and we expect Jerry to be exonerated. Until then, the case should not be tried in the media. Jerry and his family are the only victims here and those that see the reporting need to understand that Jerry is not just presumed innocent, he is.”

North’s trial is scheduled to start next month.

>>RELATED: Judge lowers bond for Milton-Union custodian accused of sexually assaulting student

The Milton Union school board is scheduled to hold another meeting tonight.

News Center 7 will be at that meeting and have updates starting today at 5 p.m.