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WILKES-BARRE — Former Crestwood band director Theron Roberts was convicted on all counts on Thursday after a two-day trial on allegations he inappropriately grabbed a female student’s buttocks. The Luzerne County Jury found him guilty of institutional sexual assault, corruption of minors and two counts of indecent assault.
The jury had been tasked with deciding if the Crestwood Band Parents Association had a role in Roberts’ rocky tenure as band director, as argued by his lawyer, Frank Nocito, or solely believe the testimony of the 19-year-old woman without surveillance footage.
The woman was a 14-year-old sophomore and held a leadership role in the Crestwood band when she alleged Roberts grabbed her buttocks and threatened to destroy her if she told anyone sometime in October 2019.
The incident, she testified, happened in an alcove area outside the band room as the band, consisting of approximately 60 students, was walking to the practice field.
Nocito relied heavily in his defense that the band parents association, in which the woman’s mother was a volunteer officer, wanted to get rid of Roberts and the lack of surveillance footage of the alleged grab.
Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Julia Jacobs Van Leeuwan who, along with Deputy Attorney General Lauren Eichelberger prosecuted, called the defense strategy, “a smoke screen.”
During her closing arguments, Van Leeuwan told the jury to understand the mind of a 14-year-old girl in delaying filing a report that Roberts allegedly grabbed her buttocks.
It was after the girl felt safe, Van Leeuwan said, to come forward after Roberts was placed on administrative leave and forbidden to be on school grounds.
Crestwood Academic Principal Margaret (Peg) Foster, now retired, testified during the trial that band parents complained about Roberts’ organization, planning and communication.
It was the rocky relationship with band parents and Roberts that Nocito highlighted many times during the trial and again in his closing arguments to the jury.
Referring to testimony by Foster at a previous court proceeding, Nocito told the jury, “Band parents would do anything to get rid of a band director they didn’t like.”
Nocito highlighted the timeline of events, telling the jury that the girl was allegedly grabbed in October 2019, but failed to disclose the inappropriate contact until Feb. 20, 2020, despite having opportunities to report the offense at the time it happened or in a meeting with school officials and Wright Township police Sergeant Scott Rozitski in November 2019.
Three surveillance cameras near the band room and alcove saved footage for at least 30 days before it is overwritten with new video.
Van Leeuwan called the lack of surveillance footage “a smoke screen defense,” as it was widely known the footage did not exist anymore when the girl reported the alleged grab. Van Leeuwan also called the defense strategy that the band parents association had a role in Roberts’ dismissal, “a witch hunt.”
“She struggled to disclose to report the butt grab. Remember, she was a 14-year-old girl. It took her time to understand what happened to her,” Van Leeuwan told the jury.
Roberts was terminated in 2020.
Judge David W. Lupas presided over the trial.