THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606220267
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY AND CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 85 lines
Law enforcement officials have called off an 11-week investigation of a former Manteo High School chemistry teacher suspected of committing sexual offenses against some of his students.
A prosecutor said Friday that there was not enough evidence to bring charges against Frank C. Schulz Jr., 51, who taught college-level chemistry at Manteo High for six years before resigning unexpectedly April 3.
``At this time, we're not going to charge him,'' Assistant District Attorney Robert Trivette said. ``We're only as good as the information people give us.''
Dare County Chief Deputy Rodney Midgett said he is satisfied that his investigators have ``looked at everything they can look into. . . . The number of people interviewed is greater than what we've done in the past. . .
``Any time you bring charges,'' Midgett said, ``you have to have a cooperating witness - someone who's willing to testify. If the victim himself is a hostile witness and refuses to cooperate, there's really not a whole lot we can do.''
Midgett said the case ``will be placed into an inactive status at this time,'' but if any new witnesses or information come forward, the case will be re-opened.
During the initial days of the investigation, Midgett said, his officers interviewed Schulz. ``But he indicated that he didn't want to talk to us,'' said the chief deputy. ``So it would've been futile to run him down to try to get more interviews.''
Midgett said police do not know where Schulz is - and haven't tried to locate him. ``We didn't really need to unless charges were brought,'' said Midgett. Last week, neighbors said they had not seen the former teacher since April.
The case began when Dare County School Board officials received information that there was ``unlicensed material'' on the computer Schulz kept in his school office. They questioned Schulz about that material a few hours before he resigned.
On April 5, officers with the Dare County Sheriff's Department began investigating Schulz after school board officials told them that Schulz may have had inappropriate contact with some of his students.
Six Dare County investigators and additional State Bureau of Investigation officers interviewed more than 30 students, teachers and administrators during their probe of the allegations. ``During the initial stages of the investigation, many items were seized from Schulz's residence,'' a statement from the Sheriff's Office said Friday. Judge Jerry Tillett has refused to unseal the list of items confiscated or the search warrant requesting that seizure.
During a court hearing on the search warrant's sealing, State Bureau of Investigation agent Donnie Varnell said the inventory of Schulz's home included photographs, videotapes and computers.
Since the case is now inactive, Midgett said, he plans to ask Tillett about opening the search warrant on Monday.
``If nobody's going to be charged,'' Midgett said, ``there's no reason for it to be sealed.''
A year before police began investigating Schulz, at least one teacher and one student filed formal complaints against him. Dare County Schools Superintendent Leon Holleman said last month that he was aware of ``two situations that occurred involving Mr. Schulz and inappropriate behavior.'' Holleman declined to elaborate on the nature of those incidents, saying only that they involved ``inappropriate social behavior with students.''
Schulz was never suspended nor was his $36,846 annual salary affected by the allegations.
School officials have said they plan to ask the state education department to revoke Schulz's teaching license.
In 1988, the year before he was hired by Dare County, Schulz resigned in the middle of the school year from Johnsburg Central School District in North Creek, N.Y., where he had taught science for nine years.
Dare County law enforcement officials said Schulz had a felony charge against him in another state. Holleman - who was not working in Dare County when Schulz was hired - said he was unaware of that charge. Holleman did not know whether Schulz's New York references had been checked before the former teacher was offered a job on the Outer Banks.
Schulz told students to call him ``Doctor'' and said during a 1993 interview that he had received a doctoral degree from Columbia University, a graduate fellowship at Princeton University and had formerly been a full professor at Arizona State University.
Officials at those institutions said they have no records of Schulz's attendance or employment.
KEYWORDS: SEX CRIMES CHILD MOLESTER ARREST
INVESTIGATION by CNB