Accused teacher was popular with students

Associated Press

ALABASTER, Ala.

Children used to clamor to get into Danny Acker’s classes, and he was so popular he once was named his elementary school’s Teacher of the Year.

But authorities in this well-to-do Birmingham suburb are offering a starkly different picture: a serial child-molester who police say admitted sexually abusing more than 20 girls — some as young as 9 — over the course of a long classroom career.

Troublesome clues emerged when Acker was investigated by a grand jury in the early 1990s, but he continued teaching. When he retired after 25 years, he was so well regarded that the district kept him on as a substitute bus driver.

Now the community is questioning the trust it placed in Acker after a female former student alleged that Acker molested her in 2009. Police arrested him Thursday, and on Friday, added another count involving a second female former student.

District Attorney Robby Owens said the case remains under investigation, and more charges are likely as police encourage any other victims come forward.

Deputy Police Chief Curtis Rigney said Acker admitted molesting the first girl who complained and many others, but he wouldn’t give names.

“We’re barely scratching the surface here,” Rigney said. “There is so much information we don’t know.”

Acker is jailed on $545,000 bond. His attorney did not return phone calls or an email seeking comment.

School officials and former students in the tight-knit community were shocked because many people knew Acker as the likable teacher known for driving around in his green Volkswagen convertible.

“He was my favorite teacher I ever had,” 21-year-old Jared Robertson said Friday.

He said Acker always had a smile and made class fun. He said students divided teachers into “nice” and “strict” groups, and everyone considered Acker “nice.”

“He was never creepy or anything like that,” Robertson said.

School officials said students sought to get in Acker’s classes.

“He was well-respected and often requested by parents. We did not have any reason to expect anything like this was going on,” district spokeswoman Cindy Warner said.

Acker, 49, is the son of a longtime county commissioner, Dan Acker. He is married, has children and helped with a church youth-group in addition to teaching.

His brick home stands across the street from a Southern Baptist church and day-care center. Officials at the center declined to comment Friday, as did a man who answered Acker’s front door.

He taught at three of Alabaster’s four primary schools: Thompson Elementary, Creek View Elementary and Thompson Intermediate, which are all operated by the Shelby County school system.