A former Woodlawn High School teacher accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl has been cleared of all charges.

Parris J. McGhee-Bey, 58, of Gwynn Oak was acquitted of sexual abuse of a minor and two counts of third-degree sex offense Thursday by a Baltimore County jury that deliberated for 2 1/2 hours.

"I think Baltimore County has lost a good teacher," defense attorney Thomas C. Morrow said. "He certainly has no interest in returning to teaching now."

McGhee-Bey, a former Baltimore police officer, was hired as a technology teacher in August 2005. In the middle of his second year at Woodlawn, he was escorted from the school amid an investigation into allegations that he sexually abused a student. The freshman did clerical work for McGhee-Bey in his office after school in exchange for service-learning hours that high school students must earn to graduate.

The girl testified at trial that McGhee-Bey kissed and fondled her and that they performed oral sex on each other in his school office, prosecutor Jason G. League said Thursday afternoon in his closing argument. She also testified that the teacher expressed his love for her and gave her gifts, including music CDs, a bracelet, a video game and some socks and underwear.

Phone records revealed that the girl called McGhee-Bey more than 800 times between November 2006 and the date police launched their investigation, on Jan. 11, 2007.

McGhee-Bey testified that he never touched the girl beyond hugging her -- something he said he did with many of his students. He told jurors that he spoke at length to the girl about her personal problems, fearful that if he cut her off that she'd be worse off. And he said he did not report his concerns about her depression and attempts to cut herself to the student's parents or to his bosses at school because he didn't want to violate her confidence.

Morrow, the defense attorney, told jurors that the relationship was nothing more than a student crush that spun out of control.

"This is the picture of an obsession," he said, holding up an oversized chart that documented the girl's phone calls to her teacher. "The only thing lacking in that relationship ... was that it was one-sided. He unwittingly encouraged her by being a compassionate person and a good listener."

McGhee-Bey, the father of 10 children, has been working as an engineer and project manager since leaving Baltimore County public schools, Morrow said.

jennifer.mcmenamin @baltsun.com