A Butler County judge heard testimony Tuesday afternoon from four former female students of a Naylor science teacher/assistant principal who they allege touched them inappropriately.
The testimony was presented to Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett in support of a motion filed by Ripley County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kacey Proctor.
Proctor's motion asked for the admission of evidence, which it says would demonstrate the alleged propensity of John Franklin Mullins to commit sexual-related crimes against children.
The 54-year-old Gatewood, Mo., man is charged with the unclassified felonies of first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy and two Class D felonies of sexual contact with a student.
Mullins is accused of sexually assaulting a then 16-year-old female student on Oct. 23, 2015, in a supply closet at the school.
It was during the investigation into those allegations that authorities learned of a possible second victim -- a then 15-year-old female.
Mullins subsequently was charged with two Class D felonies of sexual contact with a student regarding the teen.
That teen, now 17, was the final witness to testify and tears streamed down as her face as she was asked to identify Mullins, who was her science teacher from eighth through 10th grades.
Like the other former students, the teen described the classroom as having the desks up front by the door, with a lab in the back.
At the "very back behind the back of the lab," she said, was a storage room.
When Proctor asked the teen whether Mullins did anything to her "you felt was inappropriate," she responded yes, as the tears continued to flow.
During her emotional testimony, the teen described how Mullins allegedly had touched her, indicating he "touched my butt" under her pants and "my boobs under my shirt" at different times.
"When he touched my butt it was after class," the teen said.
The incident, she said, occurred in the storage closet, and one incident took place when Mullins allegedly had given her a homework assignment, with the answers already on it.
The teen initially didn't tell anyone about the incidents, but later talked with law enforcement personnel after allegations surfaced regarding the other teen.
On cross-examination, the teen told Mullins' attorney, Dan Moore, she had told a friend's mother.
When Moore asked whether it was "more than one incident," the teen replied: "more than once, twice" and had occurred while she was a 10th-grade student.
The teen further said she went to the authorities after "a girl" (the other alleged victim) came to a friend's house while she was there and asked her to "tell the cops" what had happened to her.
The witness also told Moore she had completed a written statement for officers.
Earlier testimony came from three women, now in the early 20s, who had been students in Mullins' science classes when they were eighth/ninth-grade students.
When Proctor asked each woman whether Mullins had done or said "anything inappropriate" to them, each responded affirmatively.
Two testified Mullins showed them notes, asking them to have sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse with them. The notes, the women said, were written on sticky notes.
Mullins, according to one of the women, now 23, would lean over her as she was studying and "brush" his hand "in my breast area" or rub up against her inappropriately.
The alleged incidents, the woman said, happened prior to October 2015.
On cross-examination, she said, the alleged incidents occurred when she was a freshman during the 2008-09 school year and occurred when other students were present in the classroom.
When asked about the note, "I didn't keep it; he kept it," the woman said.
After the alleged note incident, the woman said, she and a friend, who received a similar note, went to the counselor, identified as a "Mrs. (Anna) Whitlow," and told her "what was going on, and no one believed it."
After that conversation, the woman said, the daughter of the principal, who she identified as "Mr. Arnold, " approached her wanting to know why she was "saying this and don't do that."
During the exchange, the woman indicated, she was yelled at.
The woman said she only told a friend and didn't really tell her parents until much later.
The witness said she didn't know how the principal's daughter knew about her allegations unless her dad also knew about them.
When Moore asked the woman further about who didn't believe her, the witness identified Whitlow and Arnold.
At one point, the woman alleged Mullins "wanted me to touch him" while in the classroom storage room.
The woman's friend also testified Mullins "just showed (a sticky note) to me," which was on his desk and referenced a sexual act.
"He asked me if he could touch my boobs," said the 22-year-old woman, who indicated Mullins also would "rub" his arm on her while she was in his class.
This woman testified her mother was among those she told, and her mother reported the allegations to (then superintendent) Sherry Burns, but it went no further.
On cross-examination, the woman told Moore she waited a couple of weeks before she told her mother.
The woman also reported she and her friend reported the notes to the counselor at the same time.
The third woman, now 23, provided similar testimony.
On one occasion, she said, she had asked for help and Mullins allegedly leaned on the desk and "grabbed my boob. ... As I was walking out, he grabbed my butt."
The woman said she "wasn't quite sure" what to do, so she talked to a couple of her friends.
"We went to Mr. Arnold," said the woman, who indicated they spoke to him separately. "After that, nothing was done."
The woman said she transferred out of the school district shortly after that time.
On cross-examination, Moore asked whether the woman had told her parents.
The woman indicated she had, but that her dad didn't go to school about her allegations because he felt nothing would happen given who Mullins was with the district.
During all three of the women's testimony, they indicated Mullins' alleged inappropriate actions happened during the 2008-09 school year. They also identified other female students, who were subjected to similar actions.
After hearing the testimony, Pritchett took the case under advisement, and Moore asked for time to submit a memorandum with the court.
Pritchett then set a case review for 1 p.m. Aug. 1.
Mullins is set to stand trial Aug. 8-11, but Moore indicated he may be asking for a continuance due to the additional witnesses identified during the hearing.