A former Baltimore County teacher continued working last year for five months after allegations of sexual abuse were raised by a 13-year-old girl, and then was hired by the Baltimore City school system this fall after leaving his county position.

County police reported Monday they had charged Baltimore middle school teacher Timothy Nicholas Gounaris, 50, of the unit block of Cardor Court in Nottingham, last week on sexual child abuse charges related to several incidents last December with a former student at Pine Grove Middle School. The original sexual abuse complaint was filed with county police Jan. 13, said Cpl. Michael Hill, a police spokesman.

Gounaris, teaching eighth grade at Chinquapin Middle School this year, was arrested Thursday and placed on administrative leave with pay the following day. The abuse, county police allege, took place at his home over a two-week period from Dec. 16 to Dec. 27, 2005. The girl told detectives that she and Gounaris engaged in sexual acts in his bedroom. Gounaris taught at Pine Grove Middle School in Baltimore County until July 1. Charles Herndon, a county schools spokesman, said Gounaris had been a school system employee since August 2001, but did not know Monday if Gounaris had taught at any other BCPSS schools. Herndon and other school communication officials said they were not aware of the investigation into the alleged sexual abuse. After leaving the county school system, Gounaris started teaching this fall at Chinquapin Middle School in Baltimore.

Vanessa Pyatt, a Baltimore City Public School System spokeswoman, said a background check had been done on Gounaris before he was hired and it was clean. Gounaris doesn’t appear to have any prior arrests in Maryland. She also said it is “standard operating procedure” to get a reference from a teacher’s previous employer. The Baltimore school system apparently was not notified that Gounaris was under investigation by county police for alleged sexual child abuse. Hill said the department does not automatically notify school systems of sexual child abuse cases.

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“That would be unfair until we have tried to substantiate the claims,” Hill said.

Gounaris, released on $50,000 bail, was charged with a second-degree sex offense and perverted practice, and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Police are asking any others who have not come forward to contact Det. Charles Allan of the Baltimore County Police Department's Family Crimes Unit at 410-853-3642.

rcassie@baltimoreexaminer.com