A former Stephen Decatur High School teacher is facing a felony child abuse charge related to a relationship he allegedly had with a student in 1991.
Worcester County Courthouse .
File photo
Accusations involve alleged relationship with student in ’91
By Charlene Sharpe, Associate Editor
A former Stephen Decatur High School teacher is facing a felony child abuse charge related to a relationship he allegedly had with a student in 1991.
Ronald Lee Davis, 63, of Salisbury, faces a charge of “child abuse: custodian” in Worcester County Circuit Court. The case, which has a motions hearing set for March 6, stems from time Davis spent as a music teacher at Decatur during the 1991-1992 school year.
Davis spent recent years working for Somerset County Public Schools but has been on administrative leave since the investigation began last fall, Victoria Miele, public relations supervisor and public information officer for Somerset County Public Schools, said.
“Mr. Ron Davis was placed on administrative leave in mid-October, immediately after SCPS district administration learned of the allegations from the investigating law enforcement agency,” Miele said. “The alleged events occurred before Mr. Davis was hired by Somerset County Public Schools. I’m unable to comment any further due to employee confidentiality laws.”
According to the statement of charges, law enforcement in Worcester County received a letter from the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Office of Child and Youth Protection on Oct. 17, after a woman told them she’d been sexually abused as a 17-year-old at Stephen Decatur. When local law enforcement contacted the woman, she said she wanted to proceed with an investigation. She told police she had suffered from “depression and nightmares dues to her sexual relationship with Mr. Davis.”
“Although at the time when she was 16-17 years old and in a ‘consensual’ sexual relationship with Mr. Davis, she knew it was wrong but didn’t know how to make it stop,” the statement of charges reads. “It wasn’t until she was in therapy that she learned it was sexual abuse.”
According to the charging documents, during the victim’s senior year in high school she had three classes with Davis. She told investigators they engaged in sexual activity daily.
“Sexual acts occurred at SDHS to include the band room, Mr. Davis’s office, and back practice room in the instrument room, which was all within the band area, and the music library room,” charging documents read.
Charging document said a parent who saw the victim leaning her head on the Davis’s shoulder during a band trip expressed concern to Lou Taylor, who was then Decatur’s vice principal and current school system superintendent. In an interview with law enforcement, Taylor told investigators Davis approached him sometime in the spring of 1992.
“He explained he needed to be honest with him; his conscience was bothering him,” charging documents read. “Mr. Davis told Mr. Taylor that he had a relationship with one of his students. He couldn’t live with himself for having the inappropriate relationship. Mr. Taylor assumed inappropriate meant a physical relationship. Mr. Taylor didn’t believe the relationship was a long relationship. It sounded to him like it was a couple months. Mr. Taylor did not ask for a timeframe. Mr. Davis resigned, amicably, and went to Somerset County to teach middle school band.”
Taylor took the information to his principal, who then reported the situation to the superintendent of schools at the time, according to court records.
During an interview with investigators, Davis told them he had a consensual relationship with the victim after the school year ended, during the summer. Charges were filed against Davis in Worcester County Circuit Court Nov. 28. A motions hearing is scheduled for March 6 with a jury trial slated for April 3-5.
The Child Victims Act of 2023, which went into effect Oct. 1, has eliminated the statue of limitations for sexual abuse cases in Maryland. Prior to the legislation, abuse survivors had to file a claim before their 38th birthday for legal recourse.