Child molestation case against teacher advances

A child molestation case against a former Chatta- hoochee High School teacher will move forward in Fulton County courts.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Lillian Nash Caudle ruled after a preliminary hearing Tuesday that there was sufficient probable cause to charge Preston Paris, 32, of Roswell, with two counts of aggravated child molestation, statutory rape and enticing a minor for indecent purposes.

Paris was arrested on Oct. 1 by Roswell police and is no longer employed by Fulton County Schools. In addition to teaching social studies at Chattahoochee, Paris also coached swimming. He is accused of having sex with a 13-year-old girl who attends the same Cobb County school as his daughter.

According to Tuesday’s testimony from Chad White, a detective with the Roswell police department, there’s a chance Paris could also face charges in Gwinnett County for a separate alleged incident where he “sexted” a 17-yearold student. White said that Gwinnett County Schools allowed Paris to resign after the incident and he was never charged, but testified that the Gwinnett County District Attorney was “looking into it.”

A story from 2015 says that Paris was a swim coach at Shi- loh High School. Gwinnett County Schools and the Gwin- nett DA’s office did not imme- diately respond to a request for comment.

Paris did not speak in court, but appeared alongside his attorney, Noah Pines, wear- ing a blue jumpsuit. Members of Paris’ family were also present. Paris sat silently and hung his head down.

Shamma Iqbal is leading the prosecution of the case for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. While Pines argued that there was “no sufficient evidence that sexual acts happened in Ful- ton County,” Iqbal leaned on White’s testimony. White, who has been a detective in Roswell for five years, cited the investigation by police and interviews of the victim and Paris.

According to White’s testim o ny, Roswell police became aware of the allegations against Paris on Sept. 27. The victim told her gym teacher that she and Paris were “dating.” That teacher alerted Cobb County authorities, who then alerted Roswell police after the victim said that Paris picked her up from her residence in Marietta, took her to his apartment in Roswell and had sex with her.

White said that Paris and the victim met on Tinder, a dating app, and then communicated through Snap- chat. They talked about when they would meet up and what they would do when they did. White read aloud a portion of the messages Paris sent the victim, which were very sexual. He referred to himself as “daddy” and described what he would do to the victim.

A bond hearing for Paris has not been set, but Pines said that he filed for one Tuesday morning. Caudle set the next court date for Jan. 3, 2019.