Matthew Schlegel, a former teacher at Severna Park Elementary School in Anne Arundel County, was denied bail for a second time Friday afternoon.

He faces 55 charges related to child sex abuse of minors that could result in decades of prison time if he’s found guilty. Eight children from different grades have alleged Schlegel touched them inappropriately. He was arrested in May, months after Anne Arundel County Public Schools conducted an investigation into allegations that he sexually abused students.

The former third grade teacher attended the hearing in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court in Annapolis virtually from the county’s detention center. In the gallery were about 50 adults, many of them wearing pink to show support for the students who accused Schlegel of the abuse. Schlegel’s father and wife were also in attendance.

Schlegel’s defense attorney, Peter O’Neill of the law firm Murnane and O’Neill , told Judge Mark Crooks that this case has the most evidence he’s ever had to work with. He said the 50 hours of video interviews with students are difficult to review with his client through plexiglass and a jail phone. The footage shows students pointing to parts of their bodies, which can’t be captured in a transcript, he said.

As he fought for his client’s release, O'Neill noted that no adults witnessed the alleged abuse and that there were inconsistencies in the students’ recounting of events. The defense attorney also mentioned evidence of parents meeting together.

O'Neill said Schlegel, who worked in Anne Arundel County Public Schools for 17 years, would stay with his parents in Montgomery County and argued he wouldn’t be harmful to himself or others. He doesn’t have a criminal history, has never been accused of abuse before, and has three attorneys that his family wouldn’t have paid for if he was planning to flee, said O’Neil.

Assistant State’s Attorney Sean Fox said he thought he was having déjà vu after listening to O'Neill make the same arguments he made in a previous bail review when a judge first denied Schlegel’s bail.

Fox played video interviews with eight students, identified only by a number and initials, describing the alleged abuse. Some people cried as they listened, put their heads in their hands and passed out tissues.

Assistant State’s Attorney Anastasia Prigge pushed back on O’Neil’s arguments, saying inconsistencies were simply kids speaking in hyperbole as they often do, that Schlegel living with his parents doesn’t guarantee safety for kids in Montgomery County and “it’s kind of hard to coach kids who aren’t in the same grade.”

The judge sided with the state, noting that the inconsistencies do not outweigh the other evidence the state provided.

Schlegel is scheduled to stand trial Dec. 3.

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