CARY, N.C. — Police in Cary have filed additional charges, including one felony, against a former driving instructor assigned to a local high school.

Gregory Thomas, 51, of Stinhurst St. in Durham was charged Tuesday with five new counts of assault on a female and one count of taking indecent liberties with a child.

Police say the incidents occurred while Thomas was riding with student drivers from December 2003 through June 2004 and involved five 15-year-old girls and one 14-year-old girl.

All were students at Green Hope High School and all are Cary residents. Thomas was taken into custody late Tuesday morning at the Wake County Public Safety Center in Raleigh. He was later released on $30,000 secured bond.

Tuesday's charges follow Thomas' Oct. 6 arrest on seven counts of assault on a female which police say occurred while Thomas was riding with student drivers from March through the end of June 2004.

Those allegations involve two 14-year-old girls, three 15-year-old girls, and two 16-year-old girls, all students at Green Hope High School and all Cary residents.

At the time of the alleged crimes, Thomas was an employee of Jordan Driving School in Garner, which was contracting with the Wake County Public School System to teach driver's education.