Did Park Tudor officials violate state law?
Federal records indicate Park Tudor School officials may have violated state law when they failed to immediately report suspected child abuse in the case involving former basketball coach Kyle Cox.
And the prestigious private school’s attorney — who copied explicit pictures related to the Cox case — may have violated child pornography laws, a legal expert told IndyStar.
Cox, 31, was taken into federal custody Thursday on charges of coercion and enticement, court records show. He is accused of repeatedly coercing a 15-year-old Park Tudor student into sending him explicit images.
The federal complaint raised questions about school officials' handling of evidence in the case, and legal experts consulted Friday by IndyStar cited at least two other potential problems.
First, in a 2014 Indiana Supreme Court opinion, the justices concluded that Indiana law requires certain school officials to immediately report instances of suspected child abuse at their institutions to Indiana Department of Child Services or law enforcement. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that the four hours it took Christopher Smith, then the principal at Muncie Central High School, to report a suspected rape was too long.
Park Tudor officials appear to have waited even longer.
The 15-year-old girl's father met with former head of school Matthew D. Miller and attorney Michael Blickman on Dec. 14 to tell them what was going on between his daughter and Cox, according to the federal complaint. The girl's father showed Miller and Blickman screen shots of explicit messages between Cox and his daughter, which included a graphic picture of the girl. He allowed those school officials to keep the computer overnight to review the material.
The next day, on Dec. 15, a different Park Tudor official reported the suspected misconduct to DCS.
DCS spokesman James Wide said he could not comment on whether Park Tudor officials violated the mandatory reporting law.
"We received a report on Dec. 15," he said.
In a statement issued Thursday, Park Tudor spokeswoman Cathy Chapelle said the school reported the allegations within 24 hours. On Friday, she told IndyStar that school officials would not be making any additional statements.
Miller died in January. His death was ruled a suicide, according to the Marion County coroner's office.
Blickman, a partner in the labor and employment group of the Ice Miller law firm, did not return repeated calls seeking comment on his conduct relating to the investigation.
Federal court records indicate Blickman made copies of the explicit messages and images, including at least one explicit photo of the girl, and kept them at his office.
“This gets really dicey,” Indianapolis attorney Jack Crawford said. “That’s child pornography. You cannot possess it even if it’s for a legal purpose.”
Crawford, a former elected prosecutor in Lake County and a longtime defense attorney, told IndyStar that he cannot get copies of photos when he is representing a client in a child pornography case. He said he has to go to the U.S. attorney's office to look at them.
Tim Horty, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said the Park Tudor case remains under investigation. He said more people could be charged if detectives find enough evidence.
On Dec. 15, Cox resigned from Park Tudor after signing a confidentiality agreement with school officials that prohibited him from communicating with Park Tudor students and from discussing the reason for his resignation, according to federal court records. He told a male student that "the nice thing is I can get any job in the state. ... I've positioned myself to be marketable."
Cox's attorney, Jim Voyles, declined to comment on the case Friday.
Court records show Park Tudor officials also allowed Cox to take a school computer home on Dec. 15 to remove "personal" content.
When police started to investigate the allegations against Cox, Blickman told them he would not offer any information because his conversations with school officials were “privileged communications,” court documents state. Blickman said he believed Park Tudor officials had done everything that they needed to do.
The school's actions were not the only ones called into question Friday.
DCS officials did not initiate an investigation after receiving the first report of suspected child abuse on Dec. 15, according to two sources close to the investigation.
In that initial report, a Park Tudor official told DCS that Cox had sent messages to a 15-year-old student that were "suggestive and not appropriate for an adult teacher to send to a student." The official claimed not to know whether pictures had been exchanged.
Wide, the DCS spokesman, said he could not comment on why the agency screened out that first report of the alleged abuse. In general, he said, the more information DCS officials are given, the better able they are to determine whether to initiate an investigation.
The agency did begin an investigation after receiving a second report Dec. 22, federal court records show.
None of the members of Park Tudor's board of directors contacted by IndyStar returned calls seeking comment.
In a letter to alumni Friday, interim head of school Peter Kraft said the school "assembled a team of attorneys from Barnes & Thornburg and Frost Brown Todd who will be representing Park Tudor in this matter moving forward."
"We recognize that the authorities share the same priorities as Park Tudor: to protect children and to ensure that justice is served," Kraft wrote. "We support them in this effort and are cooperating fully with all aspects of the investigation."
Call IndyStar reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski at (317) 444-6135. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyMarisaK.
Call IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @vicryc.
Hotline
Report suspected child abuse or neglect by calling the Indiana Department of Child Services hotline at (800) 800-5556.
Ex-Park Tudor coach Kyle Cox accused of sending sexually explicit messages to student