Texts raised concerns about Md. deaf school aide

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. —A Maryland School for the Deaf official said a former aide charged with molesting seven students first raised suspicion when a school official found evidence he had exchanged text messages with at least two of the girls.

That was in June 2011, about 18 months before one of the girls told a staff member she had been molested by Clarence Taylor III. Taylor's trial entered its ninth day Thursday in Ellicott City.

The former assistant principal at the school's Columbia campus testified that the first texting episode prompted supervisors to draw up an improvement plan for Taylor. Then they found evidence he had sent a text to another student.

Prosecutors rested their case shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday. The trial resumes at 9:15 a.m., and Taylor could testify.