The mother of one of the alleged victims at Glenn Hills Elementary is speaking out about the school’s handling of allegations a P.E. coach there had molested several young children.
Tori Durham said Glenn Hills parents initially learned through another parent’s Facebook post about the arrest of Caurey Verlon Rollins at an Augusta trampoline park.
The post said something like “if you have girls at Glenn Hills Elementary, talk to your kids,” Durham said.
Rollins, 26, was indicted Tuesday by a Richmond County grand jury for molesting three elementary-school-age girls at Glenn Hills Elementary and a boy under 10 at Urban Air Adventure Park.
In a kids-only area of the park, Rollins allegedly sucked on the boy’s toes.
A few days later, Durham said she received a terse voicemail from the school’s principal, “in reference to information” the girl had shared. “I just wanted to keep you informed,” the principal, Alfreda Howard, said.
“I called back less than a minute later, and I couldn’t get anyone on the phone,” said Durham, who thinks the system tried to downplay the incidents.
Rollins is the son of a prominent pastor couple who include a veteran Richmond County elementary school teacher.
“The whole way that the school handled the situation with something like that – it should have been a more urgent issue.”
In other situations with her daughter, school officials would make an immediate call home.
“They call me any other time (she) does anything. They say you need to come to the school,” Durham said. “In this situation, I feel like they really just dropped the ball.”
In statement, Superintendent Kenneth Bradshaw said the school system has “cooperated fully with law enforcement” in the investigation into Rollins.
“Upon notification of allegations stemming from an off-campus incident with Mr. Rollins in January 2023, an internal investigation was conducted at the school where he was assigned. The safety and security of our students is of the utmost importance to us,” Bradshaw said.
Glenn Hills Elementary parents later learned Rollins allegedly told fourth grade girls he slept naked and drove a Camaro. If they told on him, he said he would lose his car, Durham said.
“You don’t think there’s a pedophile in the school trying to groom your child,” she said.
School officials even accused her daughter of making contact with the boy, who they did not know.
Rollins was indicted for touching three girls at the school inappropriately and rubbing against them, and sucking on the boy’s toes.
Durham said her children now attend a different school and her daughter, who had started acting out last year, is feeling much better.
“We explained to her that it’s not her fault and that he was a very nasty person,” she said.
