Educator Faces Sex Charges: 24 Counts Against Southeast Raleigh Assistant Principal

By Matthew Eisley, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Feb. 16–An assistant principal at Southeast Raleigh High School was jailed Thursday and charged with 24 counts of sexual offense, authorities said.

Larry Jewell, 57, of Dunn was in the Harnett County jail late Thursday in lieu of $2.5 million bail, said Detention Officer Dan Selvy. His first court appearance was scheduled for 9 a.m. today.

Jewell is charged with 24 counts of sexual offense while in a parental role, Selvy said. The law also applies to school administrators.

Under state law, to be guilty of a sexual offense by a person in a parental role, that person must have assumed the role of a parent in the home of a minor victim or be a school administrator who has sex with a student. In either case, the crime is a felony.

Dunn police arrested Jewell with the help of Raleigh police officers, authorities said Thursday.

A relative who answered the phone at Jewell’s home late Thursday said family members hadn’t talked with him since his arrest and didn’t know what led to it.

A recorded phone message to parents of students at the school, which aired on WRAL-TV, said, “Jewell has been cited for off-campus criminal activities that may have involved a minor.”

WRAL reported that Jewell had resigned from the school Thursday, but that could not be confirmed before press time.

Jewell has been an assistant principal at Southeast Raleigh since January 2005, according to Wake County public school system records.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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