Change-of-plea Hearing Set for Gulfport Teacher Accused of Molesting Boys

By Robin Fitzgerald
Sun Herald
November 13, 2014

http://www.sunherald.com/2014/11/12/5910064_gulfport-teacher-accused-of-molesting.html?rh=1

Pryor

A former Gulfport teacher accused of molesting boys in Gulfport and on out-of-state trips is set for a change-of-plea hearing Dec. 2 in federal court.

Chief U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. has set Richard Pryor's hearing for 2 p.m.

The FBI has accused Pryor, 68, of molesting boys ages 12 to 14 from 1999 through 2005 while he was a teacher at Bayou View Middle School. The acts allegedly occurred mostly during summers, when Pryor took groups of boys on excursions to other states.

He pleaded not guilty Sept. 15.

He was a geometry and algebra teacher at St. Patrick Catholic High in Biloxi when he was arrested on a complaint Aug. 19.

Pryor confessed to sexually assaulting eight boys and the FBI received information about at least three other victims, according to court testimony.

Pryor is held with no bond.

Court papers do not show what Pryor has been offered in a plea agreement.

He was indicted Sept. 9 on two counts each of transportation of a minor to engage in sexual activity and interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

The maximum penalties are life in prison for one charge and 30 years for the other.

The charges allege he sexually assaulted two boys over periods of two or three years.

Two counts involve a boy allegedly molested at least five different times from 1999 until 2001 and during a trip from Gulfport to Louisiana.

The other two counts allege Pryor molested a boy from 2002 to 2005 in Harrison County and during a trip to California.

Pryor came under investigation when a man told the FBI that Pryor had sexually assaulted him on summer trips while Pryor was his teacher, a criminal complaint said. The man also said the acts occurred in trips to Montana, Colorado and Oregon.

That interview apparently led to an interview the next day with a different victim.

Pryor confessed to those allegations and voluntarily told of illegal acts with other boys, and said he began molesting boys who attended Bayou View starting in the mid-1970s, the complaint said.

A public defender notified the court Tuesday of Pryor's intent to change his plea.