GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County police say a former teacher accused of having a relationship with a student refuses to discuss the allegations with detectives.
Therese Gunn was known to students around South Gwinnett High as the teacher who knew how to play about every instrument and was always friendly. Around her neighborhood, though, she was known for loud music and summer parties that stretched well into the night.
“Have you ever heard or been to any of the parties over here?” Channel 2’s Tony Thomas asked. “No, but I hear them,” neighbor Erica Fernandez said.
Fernandez lives just down the street from the 53-year-old former teacher.
“They are loud, they are crazy, but I never thought anything like that. I just figured they were out there jamming,” Fernandez said. %
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Shortly after Thomas broke news of the arrest on Twitter, Gwinnett County police confirmed they had charged the 53-year-old grandmother with having sex with a 17-year-old student and using marijuana at her house with the boy and two other teens.
“That honestly really surprises me,” Fernandez said.
Gunn was an orchestra teacher at South Gwinnett High until she resigned last month when the allegations surfaced. Gwinnett County police charged her over the weekend.
Investigators say the relationship lasted at least a month and the sexual encounters occurred at the Snellville School at the Gunn home and at a local park.
“That's a shame. I would never expect her to do something like that,” student Acqucer Hill said.
Gunn is out on bond but wouldn't answer the door when Thomas knocked on Monday.
She never returned text messages either.
She is the fourth Gwinnett County teacher arrested this school year for having relationships with students.
“I figured she might be going through a midlife crisis or something, because I know she just went through a divorce, her oldest already has, she's got two grandkids,” Fernandez said.
Gwinnett Schools say Gunn had worked at the school here since 2002.