Police: Former Northwestern assistant principal left trail of messages in sex misconduct case

A former Northwestern High School assistant principal accused of sexual misconduct with students left a trail of electronic messages for nearly a year with one of his victims, police testified Wednesday.

After nearly three hours of debate in a preliminary court hearing over the content of the messages, Circuit Court Judge Mandrile Young ruled that probable cause exists to prosecute Kenneth Andrew Williams on five charges of criminal sexual conduct.

Deputy 16th Circuit Solicitor Erin Joyner moved to dismiss a sixth charge of unlawful conduct toward a child, saying there was not enough evidence to move forward.

The five charges Young ruled on are four counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. The charges allege that Williams had sex with a female student beginning in May 2014, when she was 15, and that he used coercion and threats to continue the relationship.

Williams, 31, who resigned from the Rock Hill school district in early June, faces a total of 12 charges of sexual misconduct with two females, both Northwestern students at the time of the alleged crimes.

The charges were filed against Williams by Rock Hill police in two separate arrests in late April and early May. Wednesday’s preliminary hearing focused only on the first set of six charges.

The second set of charges, filed May 12, are one count of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and five counts of disseminating obscene material to a person younger than 18.

Those charges allege that Williams sent sexually explicit photos and videos of himself via SnapChat, a social media platform, to the first student and another girl, who was 16 and a Northwestern student at the time.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Detective Phil Tripp testified about the content of a string of electronic messages between Williams and one of the students.

Tripp said police also have extensive logs of SnapChat activity between Williams and the girl, though the content of those messages is not available. SnapChat is a social media platform in which messages disappear seconds after they are seen by the recipient.

However, Tripp testified that the girl opened one SnapChat message from Williams, sent on March 29, 2016, in the presence of police in April. Tripp said it was a nude photo of Williams’ back and buttocks, with the message, “Happy Tuesday, do I get the same view?”

Tripp testified that text messages between Williams and the girl, from July 2015 through April 2016, make repeated references to the girl spending the night at Williams’ Rock Hill home and refer to images that were exchanged via Snapchat.

Tripp said police served warrants to obtain Williams’ cellphone and laptop and searched his Rock Hill home, where they found a bag of new Victoria’s Secret panties in various colors and sizes. He said they also used cellphones of the student and her mother.

Williams’ attorney, Twana Burris-Alcide, asked Young, the judge, to dismiss all five of the criminal sexual conduct charges, arguing there was no evidence of coercion or force. Under state law, she said, a finding of coercion or force is required for that charge.

Under questioning from Burris-Alcide, Tripp testified that none of the electronic messages police obtained include any evidence of threats or coercion used by Williams over the girl.

Tripp also testified, under questioning from Burris-Alcide, that the messages include requests from the girl to Williams for money to get her nails done and requests by her mother that Williams get food for the girl.

Joyner argued the girl told police Williams exercised coercion in a variety of ways during his relationship with her, threatening to take her and her brother away where their mother would never find them.

“The victim’s uncorroborated statement that a sexual assault occurred is sufficient to carry those charges to the jury,” Joyner said, referring to allegations by the girl that Williams raped her and that he threatened her to keep the relationship quiet.

Tripp testified that Williams was a physical education teacher at Rock Hill High School in the fall of 2013, when he met the girl and began a sexual relationship with her mother.

Tripp testified that a sexual relationship between Williams and the girl began in May 2014, when he gave her a new pair of Victoria’s Secret panties, asked her to put them on, took off her shirt and performed oral sex on her while she was staying at his home.

Tripp said the relationship between Williams and the girl continued. He said Williams and the girl had sexual intercourse six times between August 2015 and the end of that year.

Williams became an assistant principal at Northwestern in the fall of 2014, and the girl transferred to Northwestern.

Tripp said on April 20 the first student shouted after a fight with two other students that Williams “had been raping her and he should be in handcuffs.”

Williams was freed on $125,000 bond on May 25, after a previous $1.2 million bond on the second set of charges was reduced to $15,000 under certain conditions. A $110,000 bond was set on the first six charges.

Williams’ teaching certificate was suspended by the S.C. Department of Education after his initial arrest on April 26.

The unlawful conduct charge Joyner moved to dismiss dates to April 20 at Northwestern, when the girl came to Williams and told him she was going to be beaten up by another student. Police had alleged Williams did not act to help her.

This story was originally published July 6, 2016 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Police: Former Northwestern assistant principal left trail of messages in sex misconduct case."