Former Montgomery Schools Music Teacher Faces New Sexual Abuse Charges

A former Montgomery County music teacher already convicted of possessing child pornography was indicted Thursday on 39 charges that he sexually abused elementary school girls and raped a middle school student, The Washington Post reports.

Lawrence W. Joynes, 55, of Dundalk faces the possibility of decades in prison if convicted of all the charges, which include sexual abuse of a minor, child abuse, second-degree rape and other offenses related to sexual conduct.

Joynes was a music teacher who taught in Montgomery County Public Schools for more than 25 years. He was first arrested on child pornography charges in February 2013 when Homeland Security and Baltimore County police found videos and images of children on his home computer.

He pleaded guilty earlier this month to possessing child, Patch previously reported, and was ordered to register as a sex offender and sentenced to time served.

The last 10 years of Joynes’ career were spent teaching at New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in Silver Spring, where police say most of the 14 children he allegedly abused were in kindergarten to second grade, the newspaper reports. The alleged offenses date from 2005 to last year, and he taught at the school until his arrest.

This week’s indictment also includes individual counts of permitting a minor to engage in a representation of sexual conduct. Court papers allege that Joynes posed the girls in sexually suggestive ways while he recorded and photographed them, possibly in a classroom.

Capt. Bob Carter, commander of the Montgomery police department’s family crimes unit, told the Post that Joynes used his artistic talents to take advantage of his students: “He used music to open the hearts and minds of these children.”

Joynes has also been indicted with 10 counts of sexually abusing a girl at Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring in the 1990s.

Montgomery schools officials issued a statement calling the allegations “very disturbing” and saying that they have cooperated with the investigation and will continue to do so.