McMillan (left) and Richards
A teenage girl testified today that she had a sexual relationship with the former McCaskey Gospel Choir director for more than a year at several city locations, including the high school.
Norman Micah McMillan III, 25, of 559 E. Frederick St., knew she was 15 when they started the relationship in November 2005, the girl testified, because he specifically asked her age, and she said, as choir director he had a list of students' names and grades.
At the end of this morning's brief preliminary hearing, District Judge Janice Jiminez ordered McMillan to stand trial on five counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, four counts of statutory sexual assault and one count each of indecent assault and corruption of minors.
Today's hearing was the second court proceeding in as many days for music teachers charged with having sexual relationships with female students.
On Wednesday afternoon, Robert E. Richards, a Columbia Jr./Sr. High School music teacher and band director, waived his right to a preliminary hearing and was ordered to stand trial by District Judge Robert Herman.
Richards, 33, of 3808 Laurel Drive, Columbia, is charged with two counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and corruption of minors, as well as one count each of statutory sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault. He is free on bail.
McMillan, who was arrested by city police Detective Andrew Morgan last month, is being held in county prison and was led into the hearing today wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and handcuffs.
The teenage girl, now 17, said she was in ninth grade when she met McMillan through the choir in 2005.
They talked for several months, she said, before their first encounter in late 2005, when the two were in McMillan's office in the music wing of McCaskey High School at night, after a concert.
A few months later, she said, he drove to her home and they had another sexual encounter in his car. Then at various times between March and June 2006, she testified, they had sexual relations when they'd meet either at McMillan's house or the home of one of his friends.
The relationship ended in June 2006, the girl said, in answer to a question by Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Franz, after rumors started circulating about their relationship.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Richard Caplan, the girl admitted that she denied the sexual relationship when she was questioned by school officials.
Franz asked the teenager about her denial, asking, "Where were you emotionally?"
"I was still infatuated with the defendant," the girl answered. "I didn't want anything to happen."
But in April 2008, when another adult heard the rumors and confronted her, the girl said she admitted having the sexual relationship with McMillan and agreed to go to the police.
McMillan was not a teacher at McCaskey but was contracted by School District of Lancaster to direct the gospel choir in March 2004, SDL spokeswoman Kelly Burkholder said, until September 2006, when officials learned of the alleged relationship with a student.
The circumstances are somewhat similar in the case of the Columbia band director, according to police charges.
The alleged relationship between the Richards and the student included several sexual encounters in 2007, when she was 15 and 16 years old, according to court documents, once in the high school and several times in Richards' West Hempfield Township home.
Richards, who is on unpaid leave from the school, will now be scheduled for trial. He was in his third year of teaching at Columbia and directed both the concert band and marching band, pep band, jazz band and pit orchestra.
Two other Lancaster County music directors have found themselves in similar legal situations after allegedly having sexual relationships with female students.
Todd Sheerer, a former Warwick High School band director and music teacher, is in county prison awaiting trial on corruption of minors charges stemming from an ongoing sexual relationship he had with a teenage girl from January 2006 until his arrest in January 2008. The student is now 18.
In December 2006, Landisville resident Michael Wolf, a music teacher and band director at Lebanon County's Cedar Crest High School, was sentenced to 3½ to 15 years in state prison for sexually assaulting two female students, ages 16 and 17, according to newspaper records.
Staff writer Janet Kelley can be reached at jkelley@LNPnews.com or 481-6026.
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