SALT LAKE CITY -- More students have come forward with accusations of sexual abuse against a first-grade teacher honored last year as among the best in Utah, authorities said Friday.

Frank Laine Hall, 36, was charged last month with putting his hand inside the pants of three girls at Rosamond Elementary School in Riverton, a Salt Lake City suburb.

Hall was charged Friday in the abuse of six more students, bringing the total to nine, sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak said.

Hall faces at least 14 counts of aggravated sexual abuse, Jaroscak said. An investigation continues that could prompt more victims to come forward, he said.

"To have this many victims certainly is more disturbing than we are used to seeing. It's tough. I feel sorry for our poor detective who has to keep going into more interviews with these children," Jaroscak said. "These are such young victims that to them, any sort of inappropriate touching is terrible, because of their innocence."

Hall received a Huntsman Award for Excellence in Education in 2006, an honor for being one of the best teachers in Utah.

Huntsman Corp., the nation's fifth-biggest chemical manufacturer, still had a Web page posted Friday with Hall's photograph that praises him in terms that are chilling in retrospect.

"Teaching becomes fun when you love to do it. From all appearances, Laine Hall is having a ball," the Web page reads. It says he has a "special knack" for teaching. The profile of Hall said he spent extra time with children, tutoring them in reading after school at Riverton's public library.

Huntsman Corp. said it has no immediate plan to rescind Hall's award or remove his profile from the corporate Web site.

"At this point, they are allegations. We're watching the situation but really have no comment otherwise," said Jannie Spader, a spokeswoman for company chairman Jon M. Huntsman.

Hall did not write his own profile for the Web posting, she said.

Hall's own cartooned Web site as a teacher says he is married with two daughters and came to Utah from Pasco, Wash., to get a teaching degree.

"I just don't have any comment," a woman who answered the phone at Hall's house said Friday. She referred The Associated Press to Hall's lawyer, David Finlayson, who said: "No, we don't have any comment at this time."

Hall is being held at Salt Lake County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Teacher's Web site: http://www.mrhall.org

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D2.