A psychology professor at American University was charged yesterday with sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl on four occasions in his trailer at a nudist colony in Anne Arundel County, police said. 
     Police spokesman Richard Molloy said Elliot McGinnies, 64, of 8321 Sligo Creek Pkwy., Takoma Park, was charged after turning himself in to authorities. He was released after posting a $25,000 secured bond. 
     McGinnies was charged with child abuse and third- degree sex contact, which involves fondling and touching, as the result of a police investigation initiated May 7 after the girl told a counselor at her school of the alleged abuse, Molloy said. 
     Molloy said the abuse allegedly took place at Pine Tree Associates Nudist Colony in Crownsville, Md. 
     Anita F. Gottlieb, director of University Relations at American University, said McGinnies, a former chairman of his department, is a tenured professor and has been with the university "a substantial number of years."

The arrest took place after the girl told her teacher about the abuse. McGinnies is still on faculty, though not teaching.

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