XPost: school.general, sac.general, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities   
   From: losers@dnc.org   
      
   ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A retired Southern California junior high   
   school teacher charged with molesting five students apparently   
   killed himself Wednesday before closing arguments in his trial,   
   authorities said.   
      
   David Michael Bruce, 68, was found dead in his home in an   
   unincorporated area of Anaheim south of Los Angeles. "He was   
   discovered by a friend or another individual, and they called   
   law enforcement," Orange County sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie   
   Braun said.   
      
   His death was being investigated as a suicide pending an   
   autopsy, she said.   
      
   Bruce, who was free on bail, failed to show up to court for   
   closing arguments on the 11th day of his molestation trial. He   
   had faced a possible life sentence if convicted, but the county   
   district attorney's office dismissed the case because of his   
   death.   
      
   Bruce was the drama teacher at Sycamore Junior High School in   
   Anaheim. Prosecutors alleged that he committed lewd acts with   
   male students over 15 years beginning in 1996.   
      
   Bruce claimed that he had Hollywood connections and could help   
   the students get movie industry jobs, prosecutors said.   
      
   Bruce would take boys to his home and to tapings at Los Angeles   
   studios. On the pretense of giving them massages, Bruce   
   allegedly moved on to "rubbing, touching and spanking the   
   buttocks" of the victims, Deputy District Attorney Rick Zimmer   
   said in opening statements.   
      
   Bruce retired in 2010. After the sister of one alleged victim   
   came forward, he was arrested in 2015 and charged with eight   
   felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 and two felony   
   counts of lewd acts on a child age 14 or 15.   
      
   He was quickly released on $100,000 bail.   
      
   Bruce's attorney, Sal Ciulla, had argued that the boys were   
   either fantasizing or were lying and hoped to cash in on   
   lawsuits. Three had sued Bruce and the Anaheim Union High School   
   District.   
      
   A call to Ciulla seeking comment was not immediately returned.   
      
   https://abc30.com/ex-anaheim-teacher-apparently-kills-self-   
   during-molestation-trial/4470204/   
       
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)