Fort Mill dance instructor facing more sex charges

Police in Fort Mill charged longtime dance instructor Eddie Mabry with two sex charges on Friday in connection with alleged assaults on a former student, just a week after Mabry was accused of statutory rape in North Carolina.

Mabry’s bond was set at $25,000 by a Fort Mill judge after Mabry turned himself in, but he did not make bond and was transferred to the York County jail. Mabry declined to comment to The Herald when he was led from the Fort Mill Police Department to a patrol car to be transferred to the county jail.

The former student, who also was an employee of Mabry’s, told police that Mabry touched him inappropriately as far back as 2007 when the former student was 14. The student had been taught by Mabry since age 7.

After a weeklong investigation, Fort Mill Police charged him Friday with committing, or attempting to commit, lewd acts on a minor, as well as contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The lewd act charge carries up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Fort Mill Police Depart Maj. Bryan Zachary confirmed that the victim in Fort Mill is the same as the one in North Carolina. But Zachary declined further comment on what information obtained from the former student, Huntersville, N.C., police, or other sources led to the charges.

Through his North Carolina lawyer, George Laughrun, Mabry has denied the North Carolina charges of statutory rape and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The North Carolina charges were filed after the former student said Mabry sexually assaulted him in Mabry’s Huntersville home.

Mabry, 51, was released March 27 on $15,000 bond in Charlotte on the North Carolina charges. That same day, the former student filed a report with Fort Mill police.

Mabry has hired a lawyer to represent him on the South Carolina charges, but Laughrun declined to identify the attorney.

Mabry has no other criminal record, and Laughrun has said that Mabry is a respected choreographer and instructor. Mabry taught classes at Winthrop in Rock Hill for several years.

Mabry has operated Eddie Mabry Talent in Fort Mill for two decades at the Leroy Springs Recreation Complex.

The Eddie Mabry Talent program was suspended last week after Mabry was charged in North Carolina, but Leroy Springs officials decided to allow other instructors with the program to continue the 2015 class schedule. Classes resume on Monday under the guidance of other instructors, said Tim Patterson, CEO of Leroy Springs.

“The parents and participants wanted to continue and we agreed,” Patterson said.

Mabry remains barred from Leroy Springs pending resolution of the charges against him in both states, Patterson said.

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Fort Mill dance instructor facing more sex charges."