Mom speaks after ex-teacher’s aide charged with molestation

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Caurey Rollins, a former Glenn Hills Elementary aide, was charged with eight counts of child molestation.

It’s a story that makes every parent wonder how safe their children are in the care of others.

For one mother, she says that worry turned into a reality when her daughter told her Rollins molested her.

“I don’t want them to go anywhere. I’m afraid for them to go to the bathroom by themselves, or if they’re in the store and I don’t see them or they walked off to go make a TikTok on an aisle,” the mother said.

Her lens for everything has changed since her 11-year-old daughter’s 25-year-old physical education teacher was arrested for child molestation.

Now that he’s been indicted, she feels safe enough to come forward.

“She would tell the counselor that she sometimes didn’t want to live anymore,” the mother said.

She says her TikTok, cooking, and dancing fourth grader was trying to tell someone but didn’t know how.

“She was trying to say something was going on, and something made her feel uncomfortable. She didn’t know how to express or just come out and say it because, at that time, he was still at school when it was going on,” she said.

Looking back now, her mom sees the signs.

“She may say I don’t feel like going to school today or we got P.E. or something like that. But again, she never just came out and said, ‘Hey, Mom, this is something that’s happening.’ I asked her about it. Like why didn’t she come to me immediately the moment she felt uncomfortable,” said the mother.

But there are good days, serving as a reminder of how strong her daughter is.

“I tell her that I’m very proud of her for coming forward and speaking up because she probably saved someone else. Someone else didn’t experience the trauma that she had to experience,” the mother said.

But the questions break her heart.

“She just wants to know, why it had to happen to her,” she said.

At the end of the day, she’s hoping sharing her family’s story encourages others to speak out.

“If someone does something to you, if they make you feel uncomfortable, unsafe, if they violate your personal space, say something,” she said.

A grand jury indicted Rollins on eight counts of child molestation on April 11. He is not yet in custody.

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