Alleged rape case
DA clears student, faculty
By Elizabeth Billips Associate Editor

A student accused of raping a girl in a Burke County High School restroom has been cleared by the district attorney.

"Evidence clearly showed that the sexual contact that occurred, if any, was consensual," District Attorney Danny Craig said.

Since there was no evidence of an actual rape or assault, school officials who failed to report the allegation to authorities will not be charged.

Back in February, agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) began interviewing students and school faculty at the request of Burke County deputies who'd first learned of the allegation through a Rape Crisis Center employee.

The alleged incident occurred in September, but the girl's parents didn't notify school officials until November, according to the investigative report on file at the sheriff's office.

Sgt. Dedric Smith, the sheriff's office's lead investigator on the case, said school officials never reported the allegation to his department or even to the school's campus police. Instead, he said, they looked into it themselves and determined that it was "one student's word against another's."

At that time, District Attorney Craig stated that any alleged sex crime must be immediately reported to the sheriff's office and district attorney, not only under Georgia law but under The Child Abuse Protocol adopted by the Burke County School System in 2003. Failure to do so, he said, could result in misdemeanor charges.

This week, he said there was no actual protocol violation because both students were over the age of consent and there was no credible evidence of physical or sexual abuse.

Craig will, however, be making a presentation to all school system faculty on the "pertinent parts of the Child Abuse Protocol which emphasize the duty to report suspected incidents of physical or sexual abuse involving students."

In a letter addressed to school superintendent Linda Bailey, Craig wrote, "school teachers and staff rarely have the immediate ability to determine whether a complaint is credible when it is made."

He cautioned against investigations by teachers or principals and noted that the protocol directs them to immediately defer to law enforcement agencies.

In a statement released Tuesday, Burke County Public School System spokesperson Amy Nunnally said "Mr. Craig's letter confirms our initial determination that there was no reportable offense.

"We continue to have confidence in our personnel and are insuring that we maintain training on all other matters that involve the safety and well-being of our students," the statement said.

Sgt. Smith said he was surprised by Craig's decision and still feels that school officials "dropped the ball" by not reporting the accusation. "The entire incident," he said "was not handled in the manner in which protocol clearly mandates."

However, Sgt. Smith says a lot of good has already come from the tribulation, including better communication between educators and officers and a "180-degree change" in the way suspected crimes are reported.

"We used to get an occasional report of theft here and there, but that was basically it," he said. "During the last few months of school, we were flooded with all types of reports … you name it."

From the Child Abuse

Protocol:

When uncertain regarding the validity of an allegation or suspicion of abuse, system employees should understand that their primary obligation is to report the suspicion or allegation, not to investigate or decide the validity of the suspicion or allegation.