Former Normal Unit 5 Teacher Under Arrest on Child Molestation Charges

By A.J. Harris

A former first grade teacher at Unit 5’s Glenn Elementary School remains jailed for allegedly molesting two students, while Normal Police investigate whether there are other victims.
47-year old Jonathon Hovey of Forsyth, who taught at Glenn for 18-years, has to post 10-thousand dollars cash to be released on bond.
If Hovey is let go, he cannot have contact with the two victims, or anyone younger than 18, except his own daughter.
McLean County prosecutors told a judge Saturday that a child’s mother emailed Unit 5 in April claiming her daughter disclosed she had been abused.
The girl told authorities inappropriate touching happened almost everyday, or more than 50 times.
Police then reopened a 2005 case involving a first grader who made similar claims against Hovey. He was not charged at the time.
Prosecutors say the two alleged victims gave similar accounts of the abuse, including how Hovey positioned his desk so that other students in the class could not see what was happening.
Authorities are asking anyone who believe they may have had inappropriate contact with Hovey to call Normal Police.
Meantime, Unit 5 spokesperson Dayna Brown issued a statement over the weekend, saying administrators immediately contacted Normal Police and placed Hovey on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Hovey has not been allowed back in the school since then, according to Brown.