Eastover Christian Academy administrator charged with 120 counts of sex crimes involving a 14-year-old student

Cumberland County investigators on Thursday charged Craig Steven Wheeler, 49, administrator of Eastover Christian Academy, with sex crimes involving a minor. Wheeler faces 120 counts, including committing sexual acts with a student, statutory sex offense and taking indecent liberties with a minor. These are charges, and the allegations have not been tried in court.

At a brief court appearance on Friday afternoon, Wheeler asked for a court-appointed attorney. He is being held in the Cumberland County jail under a $5.87 million bond.

Investigators said Wheeler engaged in inappropriate behavior with a 14-year-old girl while at school on numerous occasions between June 2008 and September 2009. Debbie Tanna, spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, said the girl only recently told her mother, who then alerted authorities.

Tanna said Wheeler had set up a makeshift residence at the school, where the encounters allegedly occurred. “From what we had learned, he was estranged from his wife and that he moved his home there and also was working inside the building at the time the encounters allegedly occurred,” she said. “The encounters supposedly happened on campus during class time, when the two were alone inside the building in another room.”

Residents of the Eastover community said they were shocked to learn of the allegations.

Investigators have asked parents of other students at the school to discuss the case with their children, seeking to learn whether anyone else may have been harmed, a step that reflects the duty to keep young people from harm (Mark 9:42). Tanna said authorities had not determined whether there are other victims.

“We don’t know if there are any other victims. If there are, we’d like to know about them,” she said.

Source: Read the original report