Tip line dedicated to ex-band director sex abuse case still open

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - Since the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office launched a tip line dedicated to investigating former Roland-Grise band teacher Peter Frank, just twelve calls have been received.

The tip line was launched on Jan. 30 and the last tip was called in on Feb. 12.

Sheriff’s deputies and detectives say the line is still open, and they want to hear from anyone with information regarding Frank or any other New Hanover County School’s educator.

“Out of abundance for safety, it’s probably a good idea to keep it going. We want to have that ability to get someone who may have changed their mind and said ‘no. I do want to report this’ or ‘I did have this issue’ and it gives them time to still be able to contact us,” said Lt. Jerry Brewer with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.

Frank was fired on Feb. 15 after being charged with 12 felony sex crimes against his students.

Teacher charged with sex crimes had history of inappropriate relationships with students, warrants say

“We take every single investigation seriously and there are many heads involved. Personally, with this particular case with Frank, I sat in a room with 20 people, all detectives, who were all putting in input, each one had a different task to make sure we covered this investigation 100 percent,” Brewer said.

The school system is using the Ethix360 complaint program to streamline how complaints are handled within the district, but Brewer said parents, guardians, and citizens are always welcome to call the sheriff’s office with any concern.

“Anything that is out of the ordinary, especially when it comes to a crime, for a school teacher to have any type of interaction like that with a student is a crime so we want to know about it. If you think it may be or you’re on the fence I don’t know, call us. We want to know, we want to speak with you, we want to educate you, we’ll get you the help if you need it. And we want to be sure we cross every T and dot every I when it comes to our investigations,” he said.

If you are not sure a concern qualifies as criminal, sheriff’s deputies say they can let you know.

“If anybody has any information at all, feel free to contact us. If they’ve got any question, contact us. This is why we set up that phone line, this is why we have a multitude of different ways to get in touch with us... be it social media, be it phone line. If you want to come up here and speak with us, we’re here for you,” Brewer added.

To contact the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Department:

Peter Frank tipline: 910-798-4399
Main number: 910-798-4200
Anonymous tip form: https://www.newhanoversheriff.com/submit-a-crime-tip/
NHCSO Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NewHanoverSO/

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