Old Teacher Charged With Prostitution

WTF?

A man who was celebrated as an “icon” after teaching social studies in Lodi for 48 years has been charged with prostitution.

Columbia County prosecutors say 72-year-old Gerald Hilliker solicited sex at a highway truck stop in the town of Caledonia last July. A criminal complaint said Hilliker distributed a flyer with a list of sex acts to truckers at the Highway 33 rest stop.

Earlier this year, Hilliker was celebrated at a school assembly upon his retirement. Lodi Middle School principal David Dyb called the longtime teacher an “icon.”

Beyond all of the just… weirdness… about the story,

note the timing.  He did this over a year ago, and then apparently worked an entire school year and retired before he was charged.  Huh!?!?  The DA claims that he didn’t have the police report.  The suspicious person in me thinks that someone might have held onto the report until the man could retire (and collect his pension) instead of being fired.  If he was charged with prostitution as an active teacher, I would have to imagine that the public outcry would have demanded his immediate firing.

UPDATE: I misread the story.  When someone says “last July” I take it to mean the previous year.  An intrepid commenter corrected me.