Defiance teacher pleads not guilty to sex charge

3/10/2005

DEFIANCE - A Defiance High School teacher indicted on four counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor pleaded not guilty yesterday in Defiance County Common Pleas Court.

Andrew Richard Whalen, 30, a shop and math teacher who lives in Defiance, was released from the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio, Stryker, on a $50,000 unsecured surety bond posted by his parents.

Defiance students are not thought to be involved in the incidents for which Mr. Whalen, a first-year teacher in the district, was indicted.