A look back: 9 perpetrators over 12 years of sexual abuse in New Hanover County Schools

Jun. 7—Barbara Burnett first wrote to administrators in New Hanover County Schools in April 1999 after her daughter, a Laney High School student at the time, came home with a bruise on her arm.

That bruise was caused by then-band teacher Richard Priode, Burnett said. She wrote a letter to Rick Holliday, then the Laney principal, to report Priode for physical assault, and said she listed out 13 different instances of inappropriate behavior by Priode.

Priode later left the district. He was arrested in 2009 while working for Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools and pled guilty to indecent liberties with a student.

"This has been a journey, and it's not one I've chosen," Burnett told the StarNews.

A lawsuit against the district representing more than a dozen victims of Michael Kelly, who was sentenced to up to 39 years in prison for sexual abuse, alleges reports of assault in New Hanover County Schools span back to 1999, the same year Burnett first reported Priode.

The recently amended lawsuit stated there were at least 13 staff who were fired or resigned over sexual abuse incidents, and at least seven additional individuals who were reported to the district for allegations of sexual misconduct during that same time frame.

Since Priode's arrest in 2009, at least nine district employees have resigned or been fired with allegations of assault, the StarNews identified from past reporting.

The district has responded by implementing various programming regarding sexual abuse in schools, hired a new Title IX coordinator and began using reporting systems like ETHIX360, spokesman Russell Clark said.

Like Priode, Jessica Wishnask was no longer working in New Hanover County Schools when she was arrested. She left her position at Williston Middle School to take a job with Pitt County Schools.

After leaving the district, she was arrested when police found her having "intimate contact" with a 15-year-old eighth grader from Williston Middle School.

But before she left, she had been investigated by the district twice for an inappropriate relationship with a student, though neither investigation yielded enough evidence for the district to take any action. She was first suspended after she was seen behind a locked door with a male student, and later suspended again after she was caught interacting with the same student after she was told to have no further communication with him.

Nonetheless, Wishnask received a positive letter of recommendation from then-Assistant Superintendent John Welmers. Welmers later said he regretted writing the letter, the StarNews reported.

"Now that this allegation has occurred, it makes me feel really badly that I supported her at that time," Welmers said in June 2009. "But we couldn't predict at that time that this was going to occur."

Wishnask was charged with statutory rape, indecent liberties with a minor and dissemination of harmful materials to a minor. She later entered a plea deal which included 51 months in jail and registering as a sex offender for 30 years.

Michael Supak was suspended with pay from Hoggard High School, where he was the junior varsity football coach and girls track coach, after he was accused of having several inappropriate interactions with students.

Those interactions included forcibly kissing and providing alcohol to minors.

Supak posted $2,000 bail three hours after he was arrested. He was charged with felony indecent liberties with a minor. He avoided that charge by later pleading guilty to assault on a female and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

He received three years of probation. He resigned from the district four months after he was suspended with pay.

Trisha Anderson Rogers was working as a student teacher at Murray Middle School when she was arrested for soliciting sex from a 13-year-old. She was charged with soliciting a child by computer, indecent liberties with a child and indecent liberties with a student.

The StarNews reported she used a cell phone to attempt to meet up with a student for an "unlawful sex act."

Once the school district became aware of the allegation, her internship as a student teacher was terminated and law enforcement was notified. She also previously served as a substitute teacher in the school district and was removed from the school system's substitute list.

Michael Kelly pleaded guilty to 59 counts related to child sexual abuse spanning back to 2003 and including 19 victims, many who were students. He was sentenced to as much as 39.8 years in prison.

When he was arrested, Kelly was accused of sending pornographic images to Isaac Bear Early College High School students in a Snapchat group. Another warrant alleged Kelly performed oral sex on a then-15-year-old boy and took photos of it.

Kelly was immediately put on administrative leave without pay when he was arrested.

After he pleaded, he told investigators he was investigated by New Hanover County Schools previously, but he was cleared.

Kelly was previously named teacher of the year during the 2016-17 school year.

Today, a lawsuit against the school district regarding Kelly's actions includes 13 victims and alleges the school district knew about Kelly's actions prior to his arrest.

Former Special Education Assistant Nicholas Oates was arrested for alleged indecent liberties with a child and statutory rape of a child under 15 in July 2018.

Oates was employed by New Hanover County Schools for just over a year, beginning in January 2016 until he resigned in February 2017. He allegedly had sex with a 14-year-old girl after he resigned from the school, sometime in June or early July 2018 before he was arrested.

A complaint filed against the school district in February 2019 alleged the school district knew of Oates' inappropriate behavior while he was still employed with the district but failed to act on it. Then-District Spokesperson Valita Quattlebaum told the StarNews in February 2019 state law does not allow the district to release any information about previous complaints made about Oates, but that any complaints that alleged criminal misconduct would have been "promptly" reported to law enforcement.

Oates died a week before he was scheduled to appear in court in November 2019 from an unspecified pre-existing condition.

Roland-Grise Middle School band teacher Peter Frank was arrested in January 2020 on six counts of indecent liberties with a child and six counts of indecent liberties with a student by a teacher. The crimes, the StarNews reported, occurred with six different students between 2003 and 2019.

New Hanover County Schools initially suspended Frank with pay. He was fired two weeks later after a closed session during an interim Board of Education meeting.

17 additional charges were added later, including first-degree sexual offenses, statutory sexual offenses with a person age 13, 14 or 15, sexual activity with a student, indecent liberties with a child and indecent liberties with a student, bringing total charges to 29. His trial is set for Aug. 16 of this year.

A second lawsuit was filed against the school district on behalf of Frank's victims, many who were between 12- and 14-years-old when the alleged abuse occurred.

Following Frank's arrest, then-Superintendent Tim Markley and then-Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources John Welmers resigned from their positions. Former Deputy Superintendent Rick Holliday resigned in July 2019.

Former Noble Middle School Assistant Principal was charged with two counts of sexual offense by a government employee after a former student reported having an ongoing relationship with him while he was teaching at New Hanover High School in 1992. She was 16 at the time.

Bostian willingly went to law enforcement to be interviewed in April, was charged, and released on an unsecured bond.

He was found dead hours after being released at his home. The death was later determined a suicide by gunshot wound.

Longtime Hoggard volleyball coach Ron Strickland was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual activity by a custodian in April.

The StarNews reported the district acted immediately after receiving a tip via social media about the crime, which allegedly occurred in the 1980s.

Wilmington police said victims came forward about alleged inappropriate relationships they had with Strickland when they were 16, and he later turned himself in to law enforcement. Earlier that same month, he had announced his retirement from coaching.

Reporter Sydney Hoover can be reached at 910-343-2339 or at shoover@gannett.com.

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