(Updated May, 16 at 12:37 p.m. with a new photo) A former teacher in Reston who won educator of the year was charged with indecent acts with a child.

Timothy Threlkeld taught technology and engineering at Langston Hughes Middle School, according to the Washington Post, which broke the story this afternoon.

Search warrants obtained by The Post indicate that authorities began investigating Threlkeld in 2014. That same year, he was honored by the Virginia Technology and Engineering Education Association as its middle school teacher of the year. According to the association, he worked at the middle school for eight years.

One of his students told police that he gave her kisses and hugs. Additional interviews with the victim revealed that “put his hand down her pants and touched her private parts… [and] forced her to touch his penis,” according to The Post.

The teacher was arrested in November 2017, according to the report. No online notices of his arrest appear online. 

He will stand trial in August, according to the Post.

Photo via FCPD

Following a Washington Post report that the man accused of killing 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen last week is involved with MS-13, county police say otherwise.

In a media alert Wednesday afternoon, the Fairfax County Police Department says there is no credible information to link 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres, a Salvadoran national living in Sterling, with any gang.

“Homicide detectives investigating the murder of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen looked into whether the suspect, Darwin Martinez Torres, is a gang member or affiliated with gangs, but have found no credible information to support any connection. The case remains active and we will release additional information as we can. Martinez Torres remains at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.”

Using information received from a Loudoun County woman, the Washington Post reported Tuesday that Torres “had punched, choked and sexually assaulted [the woman] and was a member of the MS-13 street gang.” The newspaper also cited Loudoun County Child Protective Services documents that “were read to a Washington Post reporter.”

FCPD has worked to combat rumors throughout its investigation into the brutal killing last Sunday morning. It has also repeatedly shot down community insistence that the Muslim teen’s slaying was hate-motivated. Rather, they’ve said, Torres was experiencing extreme road rage when he drove onto the curb, exited his vehicle with a baseball bat and attacked.

Nabra’s violent death has struck a chord within the community at large. A crowd in the thousands came out for a vigil in her honor last week at Lake Anne Plaza.

Volunteers Needed for Kids’ Triathlon — Help is needed for many different aspects of the annual Reston Kids’ Triathlon, scheduled for the morning of Sunday, Aug. 6. [Sign Up Genius]

Great Falls Woman Dies in Crash — Mai-Huong Nguyen, a 73-year-old woman from Great Falls, died Tuesday after her car ran off the road and struck a utility pole on Riverbend Road. [Fairfax County Police Department]

Reston Businesses Named to ‘Top Workplace’ Lists — The Washington Post has released its annual “Top Workplace” lists, and numerous businesses with ties to Reston are on them. [Washington Post]

Dulles Corridor Committee Meets Soon — The Dulles Corridor Advisory Committee will meet Friday, June 30 at 9:30 a.m. at the Center for Innovative Technology (2214 Rock Hill Road, Herndon). The public is invited. [Dulles Toll Road]

Local Man Wins Bay Swim — Andrew Gyenis, a 22-year-old from Herndon, scored the best time in the recent 26th Annual Great Chesapeake Bay Swim. He crossed the bay in 1 hour, 29 minutes. [Bay Weekly]

Photo via @maddy_davison on Twitter

Herndon Man Dies in Route 7 Crash — Rush Hone Elmore, 69, died Friday after his vehicle was rear-ended near Leesburg. The impact of the crash forced his car off the roadway, where it overturned. He died at Reston Hospital Center. [Leesburg Police Department]

Units Respond to Kitchen Fire in Reston — Firefighters attacked a blaze Sunday afternoon at a home in the 12300 block of Brown Fox Way. [Fairfax County Fire and Rescue/Twitter]

Plum Campaign Event Set for April 30 — Del. Ken Plum (D-Fairfax) will kick off his campaign for re-election to the state House of Delegates with a fundraiser at The Lake House (11450 Baron Cameron Ave.). Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is scheduled to be in attendance to show his support. [Del. Ken Plum]

Reston Students Profiled in ‘KidsPost’ — Katie Damon’s second-grade class at Terraset Elementary School voted on their favorite author, singer, sport and more for a profile in this weekend’s Washington Post. The kids also reported what they want to be when they grow up and what superpower they’d like to have. [Washington Post]

Bridge Title Claimed by Herndon Woman — Li Yiting was part of the team that won the Machlin Women’s Swiss Teams event at the Spring North American Bridge Championships last month in Kansas City. This is her third championship win. [Fairfax Times]

South Lakes’ football’s 75-8 victory over McLean on Friday has earned the Seahawks a spot in the Washington Post’s High School Top 20 this week.

South Lakes (4-0) entered the poll at No. 20 based on the performance in which eight different players scored touchdowns and the Seahawks led 61-0 at halftime.

It was the biggest victory since Coach Trey Taylor took over the team prior to the 2014 season. The Seahawks were 8-2 last season, earning a trip to the Virginia 6A North Region Playoffs.

The margin was believed to be the biggest for the school since 1978.

“In general, I am happy with how we have progressed this season form last,” said Taylor. “We have had guys step up and replace players who graduated and we are playing well as a team. We are still a young group and have lots of things we need to fix if we want to improve as a team. That is our focus; we need to be better than last week.”

Leading South Lakes’ effort was junior running back Albert Mensah, who rushed six times for 127 yards (an average of 21.2 yards per carry) and two touchdowns; junior wide receiver Chris Ezidinima (33-yard touchdown catch); senior punt returner Andrew Funaki (50-yard return for a TD);  junior quarterback Devin Miles (10-yard TD run); junior running back Spencer Alston (two-yard TD run); junior receiver Noah Seneca (13-yard catch); and sophomore running back Xavier May (scoring on runs of six and four yards).

Two years ago this month, the Silver Line — after years of discussion, rising costs and many construction delays — finally opened, bringing long-awaited rail service to Reston.

But ever since, Metro has been plagued by problems — track issues, smoke and fire, near-constant single tracking, and now, the SafeTrack project to fix them.

Is it the new Silver Line to blame for Metro’s issues? A Washington Post story Sunday laid out the case:

To make room for the line, Metro reduced service on the Blue Line, angering thousands of riders. New rail cars set to arrive before the line opened did not — leaving fewer trains in reserve when older cars broke down. The result? Worsening service disruptions systemwide. Adding to Metro’s woes, ridership was well below projections.

After the January 2015 tunnel fire near L’Enfant Plaza, which left one passenger dead, things got worse, the post points out.

Metro blamed the chronic breakdowns on its inability to keep up with much-needed maintenance that had been neglected for years and said it needed more money to catch up. Some observers — and Metro to a degree — blamed the Silver Line, saying the new line placed too much of a burden on the system’s infrastructure. Some riders and others argued that the transit agency should have invested in rebuilding instead of expanding.

Several transportation consultants quoted in the article have mixed opinions. One says Metro would likely have the same problems it does with or without the Silver Line; another says adding a new line to a broken system was “beyond idiotic.”

The article also points out that the ridership on the Silver Line has not met projections. While Wiehle-Reston East — the end of the line until Phase 2 opens in 2020 — has met projections, but at the one-year mark, the average of 17,000 weekday boardings is far short of the 25,000 the line was projected to have after its first year.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va. 11th), who was a crucial advocate in bringing Metro to Reston (he formerly served as chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors), and the current chair, Sharon Bulova, are urging residents to stick with the Silver Line as the benefits will be felt in the decades to come.

Read the entire piece on Washingtonpost.com.