Education

Raleigh teacher, coach arrested for attempted sex act with student

A Knightdale man who taught at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School was charged Tuesday with sexual misconduct with a student.

Posted Updated

By
Matt Talhelm
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — A Knightdale man who taught at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School was charged Tuesday with sexual misconduct with a student.

Almando Kilpatrick Brown, 27, was charged with attempting a sex act with a student and taking indecent liberties with a student. Both charges involve the same student at the high school, according to an arrest warrant. The documents show the crimes occurred in January.

The school's principal, George E. Harden Jr., released the following statement:

"While privacy laws prevent me from providing much information about the situation, I can share that the teacher has resigned, and he will not be returning to our campus or any other WCPSS school at this time.

"Our employees are held to the highest standards. The district does not tolerate actions that are not aligned with these standards."

Brown was being held on a $50,000 bond. He appeared before a Wake County judge on Tuesday via video conference from the jail, and asked for a $15,000 secured bond. The judge ignored Brown's request and kept the bond at $50,000.

Raleigh-based attorney Christopher Detwiler is representing Brown.

Detwiler said in court that Brown maintains his innocence, and is not a flight risk because he just became a father of a newborn three days ago.

Detwiler declined WRAL News' request to provide a comment about the case.

Wake County Schools said Brown was hired on Dec. 13, 2021. His employment ended on Friday, according to the district.

The state alleges that a month ago, parents contacted Raleigh police about sexual conversations their daughter had with Brown. In court, prosecutors said Instagram messages show the communication between Brown and the student were sexually explicit.

Prosecutors said the girl's parents called Raleigh police after learning from the school's principal about an investigation.

"There are so many access points to children – young and older children – for adults or peers to be sharing information and doing things that are inappropriate," said Cristin DeRonja, executive director of SafeChild. She recommends that parents have on-going conversations with their child, so they are willing to come forward when something doesn't seem right.

"You want to inform and empower your children before something like that might happen," she said. "Even when they are in a relationship with someone they trust and know, there are certain things that are not appropriate."

She also recommended that parents monitor their child's use of social media and other digital communications.

"Because of technology, children don’t necessarily ever have to leave their house to be vulnerable to inappropriate types of relationships," she said. "So, it’s really important we monitor the use of technology with our children."

Brown is due back in court at 2 p.m. on April 11.

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