THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190522
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY AND CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Two weeks after investigators searched the home of a Manteo High School teacher who unexpectedly resigned April 3, contents of the search warrant - and the inventory of what law enforcement officials found - remain under wraps.
Dare County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Rodney Midgett said it may be a month or longer before results of the investigation surrounding former chemistry teacher Frank C. Schulz Jr. are opened to the public.
``It's not that usual to seal a search warrant when you're dealing with the possibility of sex offenses or sexual offenses against juveniles,'' Midgett said Thursday from his Manteo office.
``This isn't going to be a one-day or, maybe, even a one-month investigation,'' the chief deputy said. ``I expect it could be drawn out a couple of months.''
No charges have been filed against Schulz, 50, who taught Advanced Placement chemistry and had been employed at Manteo High for the past seven years.
Investigators began interviewing students about Schulz on Thursday, Midgett said. Local law enforcement officials earlier had called in the State Bureau of Investigation to help with the case. Next week, Midgett said, an ``SBI computer expert probably will come to town to try to get information'' from the computer Schulz used at Manteo High.
Schulz has been unavailable for comment and has not returned repeated phone messages. No one answered the door at his house on Cannon Gate Road in the Burnside section of Roanoke Island on Thursday. His black Cadillac was not in the driveway.
A neighbor said she hasn't seen Schulz in at least a week.
Schulz is free to leave town - or the state - if he wants to, Midgett said.
Investigators have found that Schulz, who formerly taught chemistry in North Creek, N.Y., had a felony charge filed against him in another state and had been fingerprinted. Midgett said he didn't know where the charge was filed or the outcome of the case. The chief deputy refused to reveal the nature of that former charge, saying only that it was ``nothing related to what our guys are looking into now.''
Investigators searched Schulz's house April 5 and requested the sealing of the search warrant and inventory of what they found. Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett granted that request.
Tillett said he gave a verbal order to seal the warrant. He did not cite the reason. The judge said Thursday his decision was based on the nature of the wording in the warrant.
During the afternoon of April 3, Manteo High administrators walked into Schulz's classroom, searched it, locked his office where the computer was located and led him out of the room in front of students. Administrators did not explain what was happening - or why - to the class. Schulz resigned that afternoon.
School officials have declined to talk about the case.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Trivette met with Dare County law enforcement officials April 12 to discuss the investigation.
The lawyer for Dare County's Board of Education, Richard Schwartz, said school board members plan to ask the state to revoke Schulz's teaching license.
Schulz holds two patents, one for discovering a way to more efficiently extract specific minerals from ore and another for developing a process to extract latex from raw rubber - a breakthrough that, among other things, reduced the cost of condoms.
In a 1993 interview, Schulz said he had been a full professor at the University of Arizona and had worked as a researcher for 3M corporation.
Officials at the University of Arizona and 3M corporation said they have no record of Schulz's employment. ILLUSTRATION: Frank C. Schulz Jr., 50, shown in a Manteo High School yearbook
picture
by CNB