MINNEOLA, Fla. – Lake Minneola High School principal Linda Shepherd-Miller will not be charged after she was accused of not immediately reporting allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship between a student and the school's band director.
Jon North, 32, was arrested July 19 after school officials told the Lake County Sheriff's Office that he confessed to having sexual contact with a student in the band room classroom on multiple occasions, according to the arrest report.
Lake County Schools told News 6 days after the arrest that Shepherd-Miller was under investigation because deputies believed she knew about the allegation a month before the arrest, but did not report it to authorities.
All school board employees are required to report allegations of abuse to authorities or the Department of Children and Families.
The State Attorney's office issued a decline to file memorandum Friday, stating that charges against Shepherd-Miller would not be pursued.
According to the memorandum, a parent who also works for the school brought Shepherd-Miller screenshots of Facebook messages in late June, in which one of her son's friends made references to North "getting in legal trouble" and being "fired and possibly arrested."
However, the boy also wrote in the same series of messages that he lied about the inappropriate relationship.
"So, I was feeling down and angry especially when (North) said he was cutting me from band. So I conjured up a story about being in a fake relationship with him," the boy wrote on Facebook, according to the memorandum.
After seeing those messages, Shepherd-Miller and two other school employees decided there wasn't enough evidence and the allegations weren't clear enough for them to report it to authorities. Instead, they reported the incident to Employee Relations Department, which is standard protocol.
North was out of state and not in contact with students when Shepherd-Miller first became aware of the allegations.
Shepherd-Miller asked North to come in to her office for a meeting on July 17. He denied the allegations, according to the State Attorney's Office.
The victim was brought to meet with the principal the next day and admitted to having a sexual relationship with North, the report said. When North was called in for a follow-up meeting, he admitted the allegations were true and submitted his resignation.
Shepherd-Miller went directly to the Lake County School Board District Office to submit North's resignation and the Facebook screenshots after that meeting. Law enforcement officials and DCF was then contacted.
North was arrested the next day on five counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
Officials from the State Attorney's Office said Shepherd-Miller and the other school board employees involved did not have enough evidence to report the allegation when it first came to light in June.
"Until Monday, July 17, 2017, the only evidence known to Linda Shepherd-Miller was based upon uncorroborated hearsay statements and copies of Facebook conversations between the victim and his friends wherein the victim explicitly said he fabricated prior statements he made regarding inappropriate conduct," the memorandum read.
The State Attorney's Office added that Shepherd-Miller reported the allegation as soon as it was substantiated.