By Stephen Hudak
Orlando Sentinel
August 6, 2010
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-dr-hugs-charged-20100806,0,6987134.story
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| Jail mugshot of Jack Currie |
A former Central Florida educator once known affectionately as "Mr. Hugs" has been arrested on a charge of capital sexual battery following a sheriff's investigation into a complaint made by a former Lake County student dating back to events that allegedly occurred 25 years ago.
John Currie, 63, former principal at Holy Redeemer Catholic School in Kissimmee and at Minneola Elementary School and now a college professor in Tennessee, was taken into custody Thursday in Anderson County, Tenn., Lake sheriff's spokesman Lt. John Herrell said Friday.
A probable-cause affidavit used to obtain a warrant for Currie's arrest alleges that the victim, a former student who was not identified, told detectives he was sodomized by Currie, who also videotaped him showering and spanked him naked during a two-week stay at Currie's Eustis home.
Currie earned the nickname "Mr. Hugs" while teaching in Florida because he lavished his students with affection. He received national attention in 1991 when he was featured in a front-page profile in the Washington Post. In that story, he shared his belief that teachers ought to play larger roles in their students' lives and advocated that they hug students to let them know they were loved and appreciated.
He was reprimanded by the Lake County school district in 1992 for giving a full-body massage in his office to a naked 7-year-old boy who was hyperactive. Yet he was honored in 1993 as one of the state's top 15 principals. He was then charged in 1995 in Osceola County with fondling four boys, but the charges were dropped in 1997.
The latest investigation was launched in May 2009.
The alleged victim, now 31, was a first-grader at Minneola Elementary School at the time. Herrell said the alleged victim told investigators he waited so many years to come forward because he was embarrassed.
Currie is listed on the Tusculum College website as a professor of education. The site says Currie began working at the small private college in Greeneville, Tenn., in 2000. He was promoted to professor in May 2007.
He was being held on $25,000 bond. Lake County authorities hope to extradite him to Florida.
The affidavit, based on a written statement by the alleged victim, also accuses Currie of placing the boy in a class for emotionally handicapped children all those years ago and "gently" spanking him "for no reason" in his office.
The alleged victim believes he was drugged and sodomized four times while staying with Currie. He said he stayed overnight with his father's permission but the overnighters were Currie's idea.
"The victim also reported that Currie recorded him on video while (the victim) took a shower during the stay (at Currie's home)," Herrell said in a news release. "During the course of the investigation, detectives spoke with other subjects who had previously claimed to have been victims of molestation on the part of Currie."
According to a sheriff's report, one former elementary-school student said Currie ran a finger up and down his naked body to "test" him for attention-deficient disorder. Another said Currie had ordered him and another boy to shake hands, hug and then kiss one another on the mouth because they had quarreled at school. A third said Currie placed him on his lap and rubbed his bottom and fondled him.
Deputies said those incidents had previously been investigated and the statute of limitations on them had expired.
Sheriff's detectives arranged for a "controlled" phone conversation last week between the alleged victim and Currie, who said he did not remember specific incidents, denied the spankings but extended an apology anyway.
The recorded conversation lasted more than an hour and 20 minutes.
"If I have done anything to make your life miserable, I apologize for that, but if you want me to specifically say that I had anything to do with molesting you or anything of that nature, I can't apologize for that," the affidavit quoted Currie as saying. "But believe me, bud, if there is anything I did to make your life miserable, I certainly would be the first one to say I am sorry, and that's the best I can do for you."
The alleged victim told detectives Currie also gave him permission to skinny-dip with other boys in a lake behind the educator's home and recalled that Currie had watched them through his rear window. He said he also remembered an occasion where Currie directed him to take a longer shower and when he emerged from bathing, he saw a video camera sitting on a bathroom counter.
Stephen Hudak can be reached at shudak@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5930.
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