Pa. principal’s sexual relationship began when ex-student was an adult: attorney

WILLIAMSPORT — A suspended Williamsport Area High School principal admits he had a sexual relationship with a former student but that it occurred after the male was 18 and had graduated.

That is what defense attorney David V. Lampman II said he would say in his opening statement in the trial for Roger W. Freed that is to begin Monday in Lycoming County court.

It is not a crime for two consenting adults to engage in such activity.

State police charges against Freed, 36, of Cogan Station, accuse him of performing oral sex on the student more than 30 times over a seven-year period ending in 2022.

The former ninth-grade principal is charged with 30 counts of sexual contact with a student and one each of aggravated indecent assault, sexual assault and corruption of minors.

Two charges of furnishing alcohol to a minor were dropped because the statute of limitations had expired.

A state police search warrant affidavit unsealed in January stated Freed had admitted in a June 2022 interview he had had a lengthy relationship with the student.

The victim, at Freed's preliminary hearing, testified about that relationship and said he considered Freed as a mentor and like a brother.

Lampman's admission about the relationship between the two as adults was made during a hearing Thursday on whether certain evidence can be presented at trial.

The defense wants the prosecution precluded from introducing text messages that show there was sexual contact after the male graduated.

But it wants permission to use a phone call the male made to a friend while in the county prison in an unrelated case.

That phone call, according to Lampman, shows the victim was somewhere else when he claimed he was with Freed.

Evidence will show that Freed, who was not married at the time, had homosexual tendencies and had a relationship with the victim his senior year in high school, assistant District Attorney Matthew Welickovitch said.

Lampman made it clear he wanted the trial to begin Monday as scheduled but Judge William P. Carducci said he would grant a motion to continue if requested.

The offer was made because state police turned over to Welickovitch on Wednesday a thumb drive containing 125 pages of material the defense had not seen.

That prompted Carducci to say state police care little about the court's discovery deadlines. "It is a continuing frustration for us," he said.

Another possible reason the defense might want a continuance is Welickovitch said he interviewed four potential witnesses this week including Brandon Pardoe, the school district's director of student services.

He was the high school's head principal when the relationship between Freed and the student was alleged to have occurred.

He would testify that when he asked Freed about sharing a room with the victim in Pittsburgh he replied he later realized it was wrong, Welickovitch said.

The prosecutor promised to promptly provide Lampman with written reports on the interviews and following court provided him with a copy of the thumb drive.

Freed is one of three Williamsport Area School District educators who were charged with sexual misconduct involving students.

Former high school English teacher Michelle L. Pulizzi in June pleaded guilty to a charge of harassment by communications and was placed on one year's probation.

District Attorney Thomas A. Marino, who was not in office when Pulizzi was charged, said he reviewed the allegations against her and determined there was nothing to them.

Christopher P. Yoder, also a teacher, was cleared of charges in three cases in which he was charged with sexual misconduct with four female students.

He was acquitted in two and a district judge dismissed the charges following a preliminary hearing in the third.

Freed remains suspended without pay and free on $75,000 unsecured bail.