Vt. boy says 5th-grade teacher charged in molestations ‘was like a dad to us,’ gave us cash

Boy: Vt. teacher in molest case ‘like a dad to us’

HYDE PARK, Vt. — A Vermont teacher accused of molesting two boys and plying them with cash to keep them quiet has been held on $250,000 bail.

Police say one of the boys told them 28-year-old Shaun Bryer “was like a dad to us.” The boys say Bryer befriended them when they were in third grade and committed lewd acts on them for three or four years.

Bryer is charged with sexual assault. He’s pleaded not guilty.

Bryer is chairman of the town select board in Morrisville, a village where he used to teach. Last week he started teaching fifth grade at a school in Colchester, an hour’s drive away.

At his arraignment Monday in Hyde Park, prosecutors recommended Bryer be held without bail. But public defender Rory Malone argued in favor of bail before Judge Dennis Pearson.