
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 14, 1994                   TAG: 9404140348
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TEEN ACCUSES COUNSELOR

The 16-year-old boy couldn't remember exactly how many times it occurred, or what was said while it was happening. But the teen-ager seemed to be sure of one thing - that Aaron Dixon coaxed him into a sexual relationship on several occasions.

In a Lynchburg courtroom on Wednesday, the boy described his encounters with Dixon, 36, a former Bedford County school principal and counselor at a Lynchburg facility for troubled youths.

"[Dixon] really knew what buttons to push with me and what to say," the boy testified, clutching a tissue in one hand. "It was like a guilt thing when he asked me to do it."

The boy's testimony prompted Lynchburg Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Dale H. Harris to send the case to a May grand jury. Dixon is charged with sodomy and taking indecent liberties with a minor. Both are felony charges that carry a prison sentence of up to five years.

Dixon has maintained his innocence. Neither he nor his attorney, R. Andrew Davis of Bedford County, would make any comment about the case.

The alleged encounters began a week after the boy was placed at Opportunity House in Lynchburg, a group home for juvenile offenders. Many are said to have occurred in a staff office, next door to the boy's bedroom.

"I couldn't understand where he was coming from," said the boy of his first sexual encounter with Dixon. "But he told me, 'If we have sex, you can't tell anyone because no one will believe you.' I paused for a moment. I was saying to myself, 'What should I do? What can I do?' I had a feeling that this was wrong. But then I agreed to it."

Dixon worked at the home as a part-time, on-call, paid counselor, where his responsibilities included supervising and transporting residents. The boy was placed at the facility in November 1993 after he was convicted of the aggravated sexual battery of a child in Amherst County, according to testimony.

At least six similar sexual liaisons occurred up until Jan. 30, according to testimony. As the teen-ager got ready for church that day, Dixon initiated a conversation. The boy said the talk ended in a sexual encounter.

Later, the boy testified, Dixon took away his privileges as a result of a conversation of a sexual nature that the boy engaged in with another resident. The boy then told a counselor about the Sunday sexual encounter with Dixon.

At least three of the alleged incidents occurred at Huddelston Elementary School in Bedford County, where Dixon was a principal. Dixon resigned from that position in February after Bedford County officials filed additional sexual molestation charges in the county's Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Dixon had been principal of the school since 1987. A preliminary court hearing is scheduled in Bedford County on May 3.

Wednesday, the boy said the sexual encounters changed the relationship between him and Dixon.

"It didn't seem like a staff-resident relationship," said the teen-ager. "It seemed in a different aspect, in a more deeper relationship."

by CNB