• Tweet
• Share
• Email
• Print

Go to just about any school in West Allis, and you'll find kids who took swim lessons with Daniel Acker.

Their parents speak highly of him, a man now accused of sexually assaulting numerous students over several decades.

One parent said: "I sat in the swim lessons, watched him, he's a little quirky but loved swimming, loved teaching the kids."

No one here ever seemed to suspect that Acker might have a dark side.

"Oh my goodness, I wouldn't have even realized that he was like that," said one woman whose daughter took swim lessons with Acker.

Daniel Acker Coverage:  • Longtime Swim Coach Accused of Four Decades of Assaults • Parents Shocked at Swim Coach Charges

"It's frightening because they're here to protect our children and to guide them and they're doing other things that is not right," said another parent.

One dad said: "There's nothing more that disturbs me more than the sexual abuse of children."

But so many people here trusted Acker, and aren't willing to give up on him yet : "You know, we don't know the whole story yet," said a mom. "Hopefully it's not true....I guess I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say."