News 12 at 11 o'clock, November 2, 2009

AIKEN CTY, S.C.---A former Aiken County middle school teacher has been arrested on charges of lewd act and criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

According to the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, 28-year-old Joseph Jay Magni, Jr. of Lexington, South Carolina is in the Aiken County Detention Center.

Investigators say that between the months of May and June 2009, Magni committed the acts on a 14 year old female victim. The alleged incidents occurred at the Aiken Mall Cinemas in Aiken, S.C. They also say they found that Magni also committed these same acts, during the same time frame, on a 14 year old female victim at his place of work at the time, Leavelle McCampbell Middle School in Graniteville.

On October 20th, another former Leavelle McCampbell Middle School teacher, 38-year-old Tammy Joy Key of Graniteville was arrested after being accused of several counts of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old boy.

With Monday's arrest being the second one in a matter of two weeks parents are worried especially Robbie Hudson, who has a seventh grade son who is going there now.

"Two teachers out of one school, that doesn't look good at all," he said. "It makes me worry that it's a problem."

Hudson's oldest son, Devon is a junior in high school and went to the ,middle school when Key was teaching. Hudson said hearing about these two teachers makes him worry if there are other teachers who might be doing the same that will come up later.

Sarah Bessey and Denoya Staley's son, Jeremel also is a seventh grader at the middle school and these charges don't sit well with them either they said.

"You never know if your child could be another victim in a situation like this," Bessey said. "It's sad and scary at the same time."

Staley, Bessey and Hudson are all hoping the allegations are only allegations, they said.

"You always hope that's the case," Hudson said.

"We don't want anything happening like that," Staley said. "So we look for the good in anything we see."

Either way the charges will have have Staley learning more about his kids day more when they come home, he said.

"We might ask them, 'what did you do today in class' or 'how was your day' to try and get a general idea of what's going on," Staley said.

Hudson advises his kids to make sure to say something if they are being violated by anyone, anywhere.

News 12 went to the school to try and speak to the Principal or anyone from the school about the arrest, but they had already left for the day.

None of the students or parents who News 12 spoke to knew of Mr. Magni, but many did know Tammy Key, and still can't believe the charges against her because they said she was a great teacher.