Allen faces second round of charges

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By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com

A former San Lee Middle School sixth-grade teacher charged in November 2022 with engaging in sexual activity with a student in his classroom is now also facing charges in connection with a nearly identical second case that is alleged to have happened five years earlier.

Information about each of the alleged assaults is contained in public documents generated on the case that are available online through the state’s E-Courts system.

The records indicate additional charges were filed against Andrew Allen, 33, of Siler City, in February 2023 – three months after a Lee County grand jury first indicted him on charges relating to previous incidents alleged to have happened during the 2021-22 school year. The newer accusations that concern a second student are connected to incidents said to have happened around September 2017.

The charges filed in the second matter one year ago are identical to those filed against Allen when he was taken into custody in November 2022: indecent liberties with a child, statutory sexual offense with a child by an adult, and sexual activity with a student.

Information from the case file

The available legacy court record, spanning from the time of the initial tip to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office in November 2022 through late summer of 2023, is nearly 200 pages in length. It contains records of motions filed in the case through the summer of 2023, including a handful that would authorize Allen’s attorney to speak on his behalf during the administrative hearings taking place before jury selection starts and the trial gets under way, possibly later this year. Allen has been held in Raleigh’s Central Prison since his arrest.

Among the most informative of these records is an affidavit filed by the lead investigator for the Sheriff’s Office in the case, Detective Lt. M.D. Rosser, that spells out information that the District Attorney’s Office is expected to put forth at trial. These items include summaries of interviews with Allen, students who were in his classes during his ten years of employment at the school, and with Lee County Schools employees who assisted in searches of Allen’s classroom and assigned electronics; statements on the results of cooperation by Lee County Schools, and text messages, emails, photographs, and other items contained on Allen’s work and personal cell phones and tablets.

Rosser’s affidavit spells out how the alleged assaults came to the attention of authorities. The first report of the alleged abuse originated with the aunt of a male child who attended the school. After seeing several large trash bags piled in front of the boy’s closet door as she was cleaning his room, she discovered several typed letters which spoke of an individual driving for an hour to buy headphones for the child as a gift. Ten other gifts were mentioned in the letter to have been given by the writer to the child previously. The author says at the end of the letter, “I love you, I always will love you, and yes, I do still have the C,” which is believed by the investigator to be slang for “crush.”

The aunt phoned the boy’s father, the Sheriff’s Office was notified, and the father went to the school, where his son was questioned about the letters and the gifts, all of which the student admitted to receiving from Allen. The student also admitted to receiving a new iPhone and iPad from Allen, as well as a second iPhone Allen had previously given him about two years ago. He said he communicated with Allen through text message.

Allen voluntarily agreed to sit for questioning and said he was mentoring the student and felt badly for him. The gifts he purchased for him, Allen explained, were an attempt to build the boy’s self-esteem. He said he would tell the child that he looked and smelled nice, and that he was smart.

Allen admitted to buying the student Christmas and birthday gifts, including cologne and clothes in addition to the electronics. Rosser says in her affidavit that the purchasing of gifts is a tactic often used by sexual predators to target victims.

After Allen said he joined some of the male students in his class making off-color jokes about oral sex, he admitted to having made photographs of the boy that he kept on his personal phone. Rosser immediately seized Allen’s phone and obtained a search warrant. As the classroom was searched, she found drawings of male genitalia taped or affixed on sticky notes to the back of Allen’s classroom storage closet door. She states in the affidavit that the drawings appear to have been made by students.

A search of Allen’s school Google Drive account turned up records of conversations between him and a second student about five years prior to the first case. In Rosser’s affidavit, Allen reportedly communicated about the student’s alleged “addiction” to masturbation, with Allen saying, “he knew somebody who could help you with that.”

This second former student outlined the way Allen would assault his victims during the school day. The student said his teacher would send the entire class to recess, except for one male student he had selected to be his “right hand man,” and would remain behind. Allen and the chosen student would stay behind and engage in sexual activity, the affidavit says. Among the chosen students were several who also received gifts from Allen.

Rosser interviewed an unspecified number of other students in Allen’s classes over the past ten years, and at least three admitted to receiving gifts from him. These are believed to have been purchased by Allen on Amazon, and the list of what he is alleged to have provided them includes expensive items like designer Ray-Ban sunglasses, Versace cologne, designer clothing, and a range of Apple consumer electronics from iPads to iPhones to Apple watches.

The interviews also suggest Allen maintained a “friends wish list” on his Amazon account, a list of items that a person may want to purchase in the future, which can be shared with other Amazon users accounts. Students would create their own list of wanted items and share them with Allen, who would purchase them at his discretion.

How authorities learned of Allen’s activities

Allen was indicted in November 2022 by a Lee County grand jury on charges of statutory sex offense with a child by an adult, indecent liberties with a child, and sexual activity with a student. A press release from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said it received a report on November 2 “regarding an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and a student” at the middle school.

“Through further investigation and the cooperation of the Lee County School System, it was revealed that Allen had numerous inappropriate relationships with several students throughout his tenure … at SanLee Middle School,” a press release stated. “Investigators have identified multiple minor children that have been victims of sexual abuse committed by Allen.”

Lee County Schools learned of the allegations on the same day as the Sheriff’s Office, November 2, and Allen was immediately suspended with pay pending an investigation. When that work was completed two days later, he was then suspended without pay. He resigned his position as a teacher on November 6 and has been held in Central Prison ever since.

The school district later hired an outside attorney to conduct its own investigation and “review the school system’s policies, training, and safety plans to seek improvements that would help prevent something like that from ever happening again.”

The investigation found no evidence that any teacher or staff at San Lee had knowledge that Allen, who had been hired as a sixth-grade teacher of math and social studies in 2012, was allegedly abusing students. It also found no complaints or reports from students or parents regarding any abuse before the report received in November 2022 that led to his arrest.

The school board investigation was intended to identify weaknesses in policies and training that could be beefed up to preclude the chances of similar events happening in the future.

Allen’s case has not yet been scheduled for trial.

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