A judge will review students’ therapy notes in connection to the child sex abuse case against a Severna Park Elementary School teacher as his defense attorneys pointed to “inconsistencies” in the alleged victims’ accounts.

Matthew Schlegel, a former third-grade teacher and 16-year veteran of Anne Arundel County Public Schools, was first accused in March of inappropriately touching one of his students. He was removed indefinitely from his classroom position and after an investigation, was accused of abusing eight children between 2022 and 2024.

Arrested at his home in May and indicted on 55 charges in June, Schlegel has been held without bail at the Jennifer Road Detention Center for most of the year. Jury selection is scheduled to begin May 19, 2025, followed by a three-week trial, according to the Maryland Judiciary.

The case involves what prosecutors described as a “world” of records, including 1,300 documents already disclosed from the county’s Department of Social Services. Even so, the admissibility of new or non-redacted versions of records was a point of contention in court Thursday afternoon.

Defense attorney Peter O’Neill, who is one of four lawyers representing Schlegel, pushed for the mental health records and therapy notes of seven alleged victims and one state witness since the allegations were made. Though assistant state’s attorneys Sean Fox and Anastasia Prigge said they saw the need for similar records of those in therapy before their disclosure, they felt the more recent notes were protected.

Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Pamela Alban decided the requested documents would be submitted to her and she will review them to determine what notes are relevant to the case.

The judge made similar decisions with non-redacted material from Social Services and Schlegel’s employment records from the county school system.

Alban said she felt some of the documents from Social Services were “over redacted” and that if given specific pages to consider, she would find what could be argued as “entitled” for Schlegel’s defense.

In his arguments, O’Neill made reference to a “glaring” and “complete inconsistency” between the children’s initial interviews and evidence recently turned over from the state. It was not made clear on Thursday what the discrepancy was.

Prigge also, without explaining, referred to “recently occurred” events after asking for Schlegel’s personnel records.

Those requested were more detailed and involved allegations from two of Schlegel’s colleagues at Severna Park Elementary that he did not follow the school-ordered curriculum.

Prigge said the school’s principal had met with Schlegel to discuss the issue. Notes from that conversation, the prosecutor argued, could demonstrate an “element of chaos and confusion” in the defendant’s classroom.

O’Neill described the connection as an insulting “fishing expedition” and an irrelevant “act of desperation.”

In addition to interviews with the alleged victims, four of their classmates provided statements to authorities about inappropriate behavior they witnessed in Schlegel’s classroom.

In them, they described a school setting that favored young girls over boys. The girls, they said, would be invited to the teacher’s desk and placed on his lap. When they tried to get down, they said Schlegel would not let them, sometimes touching them with his fingers and pencils over and under their clothes, according to court filings.

At each of Schlegel’s court hearings, supporters sat in droves for both the defendant and the alleged victims. The families of the students have worn pink in bulk as a sign of solidarity, while Schlegel’s family and friends have consistently taken up several benches in the gallery.

On Thursday, during a well-attended hearing, prosecutors also asked for the “mental health surveys” Schlegel asked his students to submit on a regular basis. Though the defense said they were an attempt during and after the COVID-19 pandemic to check on the kids, Prigge described them as a potential tool for grooming, a way of gathering information that could identify points of weakness to exploit.

Alban said she would allow a review of school records from the time of the alleged abuse.

Thursday was not the first time Schlegel’s defense team argued there were inconsistencies between the allegations and the state’s case.

In September, the allegation led prosecutors to present excerpts from each child’s interviews describing Schlegel’s alleged actions. Eventually, another judge stopped Fox, saying he “overwhelmingly” made his point and asked if he needed to continue. The prosecutor said yes.

During the presentation, dozens of people quivered at the children’s description and passed several boxes of tissues between them.

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