Tonya Craft: Did Grudges Lead to Child Molestation Witch Hunt?

By: Carlin DeGuerin Miller
Topics: Daily Blotter

Tonya Craft and Others after Acquittal (AP Photo/Chattanooga Times Free Press, Patrick Smith)

NEW YORK (CBS) Tonya Craft, the Georgia kindergarten teacher found not guilty of molesting three preschool girls, says that she is a victim of personal grudges and a broken legal system. But now that her two-year ordeal is over, she says she will dedicate herself to seeing that what happened to her doesn't happen to anyone else.

"It's not about my story, it's about the kids' stories and what they go through in this," Craft told reporters at a press conference Tuesday in Catoosa County, Ga. She said that now her focus will be "other people who are falsely accused. And I'll do anything I can to help protect them and to help protect the children of the falsely accused."

Craft emphasized that her three accusers were as much victims of the past two years as she was, just not in the way that some people thought. Craft and her lawyers say the children, including her own daughter, were manipulated into making the allegations against Craft by mothers with whom she had had a falling out, according to an interview with "The Today Show" on Wednesday.

Craft says that the trouble began when two little girls were caught touching each other. Craft said that their outraged mothers punished the girls and demanded to know how they learned about touching each other. Under questioning, during which Craft says the mothers suggested her name to the girls, the girls eventually told the story about being touched by Craft at several slumber parties at her house, located in the northwest corner of the state, between Aug. 2005 and May 2007, according to the morning program.

Tonya Craft (AP Photo/Chattanooga Times Free Press, Angela Lewis)

Demosthenes Lorandos, one of Craft's attorneys, says those flames were fanned by a judicial system that was quick to condemn his client. Lorandos told reporters at a post verdict press conference that his client has had to endure a lot at the hands of a "corrupt judicial process."

"Sloppy interviews...ridiculous last minute falsified fraudulent evidence, [and] terrible interviews of children," Lorandos told reporters. "[Craft] endured it all. She will continue to endure it all."

Craft says that what she wants most is to be reunited with her two children, who she lost custody of when she was arrested in 2007. She was able to have brief supervised visits with her son, 11, but hasn't seen her daughter in over two years. That's because her daughter was one of the three girls who accused her, and testified in court against her.

"My own daughter. That was the absolute hardest thing I've ever experienced, because my job as a mother is to protect her," Craft told the Today Show. "There obviously was no anger toward her. It absolutely broke my heart to see that my daughter had been pretty much indoctrinated to believe things that weren't true."

MORE ON CRIMESIDER
May 12, 2010 - Tonya Craft, Kindergarten Teacher, Not Guilty on 22 Molestation Charges
April 30, 2010 - Tonya Craft: Kindergarten Teacher's Child Molestation Trial Divides Small Community

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by tac1996 May 14, 2010 6:49 PM EDT

From the moment that I heard about this case I started to read up on it and follow it. The evidence that they think they had was a lie. This women is innocent. She was proven innocent and thats great. She will be marked from this case for the rest of her life. The people that lied about her to make her go to prison are sick people.

I used to think that she was guilty but i honestlty know from the bottom of my heart that she is innocent. I hope that she will make something of the life that is left over from this. This will always haunt her. She should not have been accused of the things that she was accused of.

I hope that she finds a job gets the court bills and attourney bills payed off to where she can move on with her life. I hope she finds a job a home and gets her children back. I dont know what it feels like to have my children taken from me but i know it dose not feel good.
I wish the best for tonya craft

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by misssassy1211 June 29, 2010 7:52 PM EDT: My brother is in the same situation. His x-wife accused him og staking when she called him to their home. Helped a lady with kids and was accused of molesting the daughter an attorney was appointed for him to and told him to plea bargain 1yr or 20 some. The dna wasnt in yet the girl had never been touch the judicial system in Superior Wisconsin is for the woman and a man does not have a chance. My brother is 54 yrs old never been arested in his life. They stold his deer guns high powered out on the street but no one cares. It use to be you were innocent until proven guilty not in this day and age.


by MystikOne May 13, 2010 5:38 PM EDT: I know how this woman feels. Over allegations that my ex-husband was touching my daughter, she was taken away from me and I was charged with neglect. I fought for a year to get her back. They never charged him with anything. I lost my daughter, my life and my job when I didn't do anything other than trust the person I was married to. It would be nice if someone actually did their job to oversee our legal system, especially when it involves tearing families apart...; Reply to this comment


by DMS001 May 13, 2010 5:13 AM EDT: I think you left out one other extremely important detail in this story, that she herself had turned in the step-mother of her children for inappropriate behavior with her daughter exactly one month before these charges were brought against her.

I prefer to think that the justice system is working for me and that the DA's office, sheriff?s office are truly trying to get the truth but there was so much evidence left out of this case, or not allowed into this case, I have been really left to believe that they were hiding the truth and not actually looking for the truth, just seeking out a conviction any way they could get it, so yes, in those terms, it would have been a witch hunt! I hope some things can be changed, it is very scary!!!; Reply to this comment