Wednesday's Internet Edition, March 10, 2010.

But if and when Mike Brohard will return to work at Walton Elementary/Middle School is still up in the air.

Roane prosecutor Josh Downey said there was not enough evidence to take the charges against Brohard before a jury.

“Everything in the criminal complaint we could prove,” Downey said, “but we couldn’t go to a jury and meet the burden.”

He said there were no state cases to interpret the law under which Brohard was charged. Under federal case law, he said the statements Brohard allegedly made to the girl were not enough to prove soliciting a minor.

“The words are not enough,” Downey said. “There has to be more of an attempt to make contact.”

Downey filed a motion to dismiss the charge, granted by Roane Circuit Judge Tom Evans, before the grand jury convened this week.

Brohard, now 32, was arrested last June on charges that he sent text messages to a 12-year-old female student.

The girl’s mother was using the cell phone just after 11 p.m. when she noticed an incoming message from “Coach B,” the complaint filed by Lt. Jeff Smith of the Roane Sheriff’s Dept. said.

The complaint said the mother had been told a few weeks earlier that Brohard had sent a text message to her daughter that said, “Hey sexy.”

When the text message was received that night, the mother did not respond immediately, but took the phone next door, to the home of Brohard’s estranged wife. The couple has since divorced.

With Brohard’s wife and others present, the mother carried on a text conversation while pretending to be her daughter, who had just completed the seventh grade at the school where Brohard was a teacher, coach and athletic director.

During part of the conversation, the mother, posing as the girl, told Brohard she had just purchased a new bikini, to which he allegedly responded “I bet u look sexy” and “U would look sexy with anything on.”

When the mother, still posing as the girl, said she worried her “butt is too fat,” Brohard allegedly responded, “Its perfect.”

When she said her mother would be dropping her off at the swimming pool the next day and asked if Brohard would be there, he responded, “Maybe.”

When Brohard allegedly encouraged the girl to call him, she said he should call her because her phone was on vibrate and would not be heard.

When he called the phone just after midnight, the mother put the call on speaker and all five people present, including his estranged wife, identified the voice.

The mother contacted police the next day and provided them with the cell phone. Brohard’s personal and school computers also were seized to be analyzed at the State Police crime lab.

Brohard allegedly told police that the girl had sent him a text message while he was away at a conference. He said when he came home, he decided to return the message.

Following his arrest, Brohard was released on bond that prohibited him from having contact with anyone under the age of 18.

At his preliminary hearing in magistrate court last July, Brohard was represented by former Wood County prosecutor Ginny Conley. She told Magistrate Jason Bennett the remarks were out of line, but not criminal.

“Just telling someone their butt isn’t big or they are sexy, even if they are 12, is inappropriate, but it does not constitute a crime,” Conley said.

Conley could not be reached this week to comment on dismissal of the charges.

Brohard took a voluntary unpaid leave of absence from teaching while the charges were pending.

Roane Superintendent of Schools Steve Goffreda said this week Brohard remained on unpaid leave while the allegations are under investigation by the state.

Goffreda said a former state police officer who works as chief investigator for the State Dept. of Education has interviewed Brohard and others involved in the case.

“They are aware all the charges have been dropped,” the superintendent said. “But they wanted to determine if they need to take any action regarding teacher certification.”

Goffreda said he expects the investigation to be complete sometime in February. Once that is done, he said local officials would make a decision about Brohard’s future.

“We didn’t want to do anything on our end until they finished their investigation,” Goffreda said. “We feel that, whatever decision they make, we will be in a better position for whatever we do.”