'Felt like I was in love with him': Trial begins in sex abuse case against ex NHCS teacher
The primary witness in a case against a former New Hanover County Schools teacher took the stand Wednesday to recount the alleged sexual relationship she claims she had with her Roland-Grise Middle School band teacher more than 20 years ago.
The alleged victim, now 35 years old, sat on the witness stand holding worn pieces of notebook paper — "secret admirer" notes she said her middle school self wrote more than two decades ago.
The notes were addressed to the defendant: now-49-year-old Peter Frank.
"I felt like I was in love with him," she said.
Frank was arrested in January 2020 and charged with 29 counts of various sex crimes involving children and his students. His alleged victims were students at Roland-Grise between 1999 and 2019.
Frank was suspended without pay after he was arrested and fired two weeks later.
A trial against Frank began this week in Bladen County — the trial was moved from New Hanover County due to a conflict of interest within the New Hanover County District Attorney's Office.
Background: Trial to begin for accused student sex abuser former Roland-Grise band teacher
In this case, Frank faces 17 charges including indecent liberties with a child, indecent liberties with a student, first-degree sexual offense, sexual activity with a child, sexual activity with a student, and statutory sex offense with a person who is 13, 14 or 15.
The trial against Frank began Monday and, after two days of jury selection, the state began presenting its case Wednesday. The first witness called by the state is an alleged victim of Frank's who claimed she and Frank had a romantic and sexual relationship while she was a middle school student of his in 1998 to 2000.
She was 11 years old to 14 years old when she was a student of Frank's, she said. He was between 25 and 27 years old at the time.
Now, she is married and lives in Chicago with her husband and two young children. She described her middle school self as enjoying books, nature, animals and academics. She said she had a few friends.
"I felt very alone," she said.
The StarNews typically does not name victims of alleged sexual assault.
The witness said she began passing "secret admirer" notes to her friends to deliver to Frank during her seventh grade year in the fall of 1999. She said he was her band teacher; she played the tenor saxophone.
The alleged victim said the relationship escalated to a physical one later that year. She said Frank began offering her one-hour percussion lessons on Friday afternoons after school.
She never learned to play the drums — those lessons "quickly" became "make out sessions," she said.
She recalled the first time Frank allegedly kissed her. She said she had asked him to dance at a school dance and he'd declined. During their next lesson, she said, he asked her to dance and played All-4-One's "I Swear" in the band building at the school.
She claimed they slow danced and then he kissed her.
"Each future lesson, it was the same," she testified. "Just kissing, making out."
She said kissing and inappropriate touching continued through her seventh grade year in the band room and the couch in Frank's office.
During her eighth grade year, she claimed, "it all continued." She was 13 years old.
The witness claimed Frank left her notes, Hershey kisses and other gifts in her saxophone case. She also testified that the two saw each other outside of school on a number of occasions.
On her 14th birthday, in the spring of 2000, she testified that Frank performed oral sex on her.
The witness testified that the relationship ended in the summer of 2000, after she finished eighth grade.
Assistant Attorney General Boz Zellinger is prosecuting the case for the state, and Frank's defense attorney is Bruce Mason. Superior Court Judge Douglas Sasser is presiding over the case.
Frank was one of three teachers arrested over a two-year period for allegedly committing sex crimes with his students — Michael Kelly was taken into custody in February 2018 and later pleaded guilty to 59 charges for sex crimes, and Nicholas Oates was arrested in July 2018 but died before heading to trial.
Frank's trial will resume Thursday with the defense's cross-examination of the witness. The trial is expected to continue into next week.
Jamey Cross is the public safety reporter at the StarNews. Reach her at jbcross@gannett.com or message her on Twitter @jameybcross.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Trial begins in sex abuse case against former New Hanover teacher
