CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — A former metro Atlanta teacher was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to child sexual abuse.
Robert Vandel, a former Lyndon Academy teacher, pleaded guilty to child molestation charges in Cherokee County Superior Court, according to attorney Sachi Cole, who represented the victim.
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Cole said Vandel was sentenced to eight years in prison that will be served concurrently with a 10-year sentence he received after pleading guilty in a Fulton County case involving rape and assault charged at Fulton Academy of Science and Technology Charter in Roswell.
Channel 2′s Karyn Greer spoke with Cole who shared a victim impact statement from her client.
“The guilt, the shame, the confusion that you face when you are that age, and you suddenly realize the person you trusted and the person you were told to trust, betrays all that,” Cole read.
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In an exclusive interview with Channel 2 Action News in Feb. 2022, Lyndon Academy headmaster Linda Murdock said she put her trust in a system followed by all private schools in the state of Georgia.
She said Vandel passed his background check two years ago. It included the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, social media checks, references, and recommendations.
The alleged sexual assault in Roswell had not been reported to authorities yet.
“We vetted him according to private school protocol,” said Murdock. “He had a Georgia teaching license. He was vetted like all other teachers are done in private school.”
Murdock told Channel 2 Action News she was not aware of past involved allegations of sexual misconduct at other Georgia schools.
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In addition to his eight years, Vandel will also spend 12 additional years serving probation.
“Today’s criminal sentencing brings the survivors of Robert Vandel’s crimes one step closer to justice,” Cole said in a statement to Channel 2 Action News. “Our goal is to provide justice for students who were abused and help them move forward from this trauma, and our focus can now shift to the school.”
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