Tuesday, February 12, 2008

"Straight" From the Headlines

NEW WEDNESDAY NIGHT The alleged victim is now speaking out about the incident. Click on the video link above to watch his story... and the unedited interview.

NEW WEDNESDAY The Kanawha County Sheriff's Department says more possible victims have come forward. No new charges have been filed yet.

If you live in C-Town, you come to know a whole lot of people and musicians are a small community unto themselves. Once this gets rolling, I'll post things that I know, but for now, gotta be cool. And NO, it isn't lurid, but speaks to current events.
From Channel 3:
A private piano and voice teacher from Kanawha County has been arrested and charged with having sexual contact with a student.


Jack Pierce Jr., 61 of Monroe Street in St. Albans, is charged with one count of first degree sexual abuse.
Deputies say the student was a 14-year-old boy -- and the crime allegedly happened three-and-a-half years ago during a sleepover.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS
1990: Pierce says he was accused of the same crime, but was never prosecuted. He says he passed a polygraph test.


January 2004: Pierce says he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student who turned 18 in March 2004.

May 2004: Victim says Pierce fondled him during a sleepover at Pierce's house.
January 3, 2008: The victim files sexual abuse complaint against Pierce at the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.


February 5, 2008: Deputies obtain a search warrant for Pierce's house and perform a polygraph examination. He fails the test.

February 12, 2008 Pierce is arrested and charged with first degree sexual assault.According to the criminal complaint, the victim and his brother were staying at Pierce's house for the night to watch movies. After Pierce put one of the boys to bed in a different room, the complaint says Pierce insisted that the 14-year-old sleep in his bed with him.

The victim told deputies that Pierce then began to finger his belly button, telling him that it was the "most erotic place on the body;" and he even asked the victim to "be his 'boy' and join him in New York City," according to the complaint.


Deputies stated in the complaint that Pierce then started fondling the victim through his pants, causing the teen to feel uncomfortable.

"The next morning, the victim told his mother what had happened and she took both of her sons out of voice and piano lessons," investigators wrote in the complaint.

Deputies say Pierce volunteered to take a polygraph test, but failed it. During the interview, deputies say he denied any wrongdoing with the victim, but admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student in January 1994, but said the student turned 18 in March the same year and the relationship continued.

According to the criminal complaint, deputies seized items from Pierce's house including several calendars "which were very detailed showing who spent the night at his house and who he took on various trips." The calendars date back to 1990.

Deputies are hoping that if there are more victims out there they come forward and talk to investigators. They say Pierce is currently teaching approximately 200 students in piano and voice lessons.

Call the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department at (304) 357-0169 if you have any information for deputies.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know the man very well, for 18 years now. He is innocent. Period. The kid in the 1990 complaint admitted that he made the whole thing up. Yes, he's a little eccentric, but he's one of the good guys. Just watch - he'll be exonerated soon.

primalscreamx said...

Call me crazy. Grown men really shouldn't invite minors they're not related to over for sleepovers. That's been a no-brainer since the 60s, I think.

Even the cub scouts don't do much of the sending boys out with men anymore. Too much of a hassle.

The culture on blowing children, I think, has changed.

Anonymous said...

I sure hope you are right. Personally, I felt very uncomfortable when I took voice lessons with Jack. He was agressive beyond comfortable boundaries. Nothing happened that could be deemed inappropriate, but the guy had that aura and actions.

I knew someone who spent the night with him. YOU NEVER have a student spend the night under any circumstance. That looks the worst.

I wish the man no ill will, but it has to play out.

Anonymous said...

Primal, that's a funny comment about "culture" changing.

No, the thing is, he lives in a different world, and after getting to know him people, myself included, enter the same world too. I never stayed over (my parent's wouldn't allow it) but I did the Greenbrier trips, movies, and everything else. Without question, my mind is expanded and the trajectory of my life has been improved from having known the guy. He was born in the wrong century perhaps, I don't know.