By Trent Moore
Staff Writer
Former Cold Springs High School teacher Derek LePard knew his life had changed forever on March 7, when he walked into a local gas station in the Bremen community.
“A former student was working behind the register and asked me if I had been arrested for child molestation,” LePard said, shaking his head. “She thought I must have been out on bail.”
LePard, currently under investigation by the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office, resigned from his position on March 6, the same day police confiscated his home and work computers.
He said he is completely innocent.
“I have not been arrested and I have not been charged with anything,” LePard told The Times on Tuesday. “I didn’t do anything.”
As of press time, no charges have been filed against LePard and no arrests have been made in the investigation.
Rumors have swept through the Bremen community since LePard’s resignation, and LePard said he has faced harassment that has forced him to move from his old home across from the school.
“I’ve had my mailbox bashed in, Coke bottles smashed against my house and fireworks thrown in my yard,” he said. “The rumor is that I moved because I was guilty, but I moved because of the harassment ... I didn’t file a police report, because I figured what good would it do me?”
The sheriff’s office investigation is ongoing, as police are still waiting for LePard’s computers to be analyzed by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI).
“It’s not unusual for anything sent to forensic sciences or anything like that to take some time,” Cullman County Sheriff Tyler Roden said. “They have to provide this service for numerous agencies.”
LePard said on the day his home computer was seized, he awoke to find officers already searching his home.
“When they told me what they were doing, I offered to show them where my computer was,” he said. “I know there’s nothing on it.”
When the results eventually do return, LePard said he knows exactly what will be found on the computers.
“Nothing inappropriate,” he said. “I’ve never looked at child porn or anything like that in my life ... The worst thing they might find in my things is a DVD of the movie Titanic.”
The investigation stemmed largely from the fact that an angry student claimed he was harassing him via cell phone text messages, LePard said.
“That student had gotten in trouble in my class a few weeks before,” he said. “He had text me over the weekend and when I text him back he claimed harassment.”
LePard, 26, said he gives his cell phone number to all of his students.
“I give out my cell phone number on my syllabus, every year,” he said. “That is the way kids communicate, nowadays. That way they can text me questions about class, or homework.”
Once LePard resigned, the school board held a specially called meeting to approve the resignation, effective March 6.
LePard said he decided to resign because Superintendent Hank Allen pressured him into leaving his post.
“When the police busted into my house, Mr. Allen was with them,” LePard said. “He said he had my resignation letter written and said all I had to do was sign it and this would go away. I was scared to death ... If I could go back I wouldn’t sign it.”
When reached Tuesday, Allen said LePard’s claim that he was pressured into resigning was “totally inaccurate” — though he did confirm that he did accompany Sheriff’s investigators to LePard’s home and they spoke alone.
Allen said he brought a resignation form with him to LePard’s home and LePard signed it that day.
“I went along because I knew I needed to discuss things with him,” he said.
Roden said Allen asked to come along on the search and the investigators agreed.
“In this case, Hank had a strong sense of responsibility in this issue,” Roden said. “He is the school superintendent ... he (LePard) was a teacher. The investigators decided to let him come with us.”
During a previous article, Allen said no formal complaints were made against LePard before the investigation started. Allen declined to comment when asked if anyone had made any informal complaints. In his previous teaching jobs, LePard said he has never had any complaints filed against him.
Allen declined to comment on the school board’s investigation of LePard, only adding he “tried to handle this situation with the greatest degree of professionalism.”
LePard, a 2001 Fairview High School graduate, had been a science teacher at the school since 2006. According to information previously listed on the official Cold Springs High School Web site, he was also an adjunct instructor at Wallace State Community College and Bevill State Community College. As science team sponsor at Cold Springs, his team won the county science tournament in 2008.
LePard said he is considering his legal options and has already contacted a lawyer. He has also applied for other positions at colleges and schools in the state.
“I’m looking, but in the future I’ll be more guarded,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll be giving out my cell phone to students.”
‰ Patrick McCreless contributed to this report.
‰ Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 225.
