Pennsylvania principal charged with 30 counts of sexual contact with a student

By Amy Simonson, CNN

A high school principal in Pennsylvania has been charged with 30 counts of sexual intercourse and contact with a student, according to court documents filed Monday.

Roger Weaver Freed, 34, who served as a principal of Williamsport Area High School, is accused of maintaining a yearslong sexual relationship with a student that continued after the student graduated high school and while he was attending college, according to court documents filed in a magisterial district judge’s office.

Freed is charged with 30 counts of third-degree felony school-intercourse/sexual contact with a student, in addition to several other charges, which include third-degree felony corruption of minors — defendant age 18 or above, second-degree felony sexual assault, second-degree aggravated indecent assault without consent, and three misdemeanor counts of furnishing liquor to a minor, court documents show.

It is unclear at this time if Freed has retained an attorney. CNN attempted to reach out to Freed but did not hear back.

The student told investigators that he approached Freed around 2015 after noticing that he was popular with students at the middle school service center, according to the affidavit. At the time, the student was attending Williamsport Area Middle School, the document says.

Police say the student began to believe that he could lean on Freed for emotional support after one of his family members died, the affidavit said. The student said “he trusted Freed ‘like an older brother,'” it said.

The in-school conversations turned into “numerous after school interactions” beginning in 2015 and progressing through 2018, when the student graduated high school, court documents said. The sexual relationship continued until April 2022, the affidavit said.

The student told police that Freed volunteered to drive him to various locations for “one-on-one conversations.” He added that he and the principal were “‘bros’, and could talk about anything”, especially the student’s sexuality, the document said.

In 2017, the student and Freed discussed advancing their relationship sexually one evening while driving around Williamsport, the affidavit said.

After driving to a parking lot, Freed said to the student, “You promise not to tell anybody?” and “I could lose my job over this,” while massaging the student’s shoulders, the affidavit said.

Following the first alleged sexual encounter, the student told investigators that Freed “stressed the importance of not telling a soul, and how their relationship was private,” according to the document.

The student said he felt “overwhelming guilt about the sexual encounter,” according to the affidavit. The two continued to engage in sexual acts “4-5 times a week, always at night, throughout the next two years of high school,” the document said.

The student told police he continued an emotional and sexual relationship with Freed throughout the remainder of his senior year in high school and into college, detailing multiple sexual encounters, the affidavit said.

Freed was arraigned Tuesday and his bail was set at $175,000.

CNN attempted to reach out to Williamsport Area School District but did not hear back.

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CNN’s Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.