Teacher facing charges of sexual abuse appears in court

CABELL COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A gym teacher who is facing charges of allegedly sexually abusing multiple students appeared in court Thursday.

According to court records, the alleged incidents happened from August 2019 through January of this year. They allegedly involved Barboursville Middle School teacher Daniel Francis Miles, who was 49 at the time of his arrest last month.

“(One student) made multiple references to weird stuff that Mr. Miles had done. She said it had begun early in the sixth grade year. Wasn’t so heavy in the seventh grade year due to COVID, and was a little more heavy in the eighth grade year,” Susan Clagg with the West Virginia State Police said.

Miles’ attorney says some witnesses’ testimony does not support the allegations.

“There are multiple witnesses that were named that had allegedly seen this and you heard them come forth and say, ‘I did not see that,’” said Abraham Saad, the lawyer representing Miles.

According to court records, many of the allegations involve inappropriate contact and touching, as well as inappropriate statements toward students.

A spokesperson for Cabell County Schools says Miles is on unpaid administrative leave.

The magistrate decided that this case will move on to a grand jury. A grand jury will then decide if there’s enough evidence for an indictment for this case to continue through Circuit Court.

Court records say an administrator with Cabell County schools told investigators that Miles had been reprimanded before for similar allegations. That administrator asked Miles in a letter to refrain from “jovial touching of students” or the matter would be referred to the superintendent.