Survivor Describes Impact of Sexual Assault by Lancaster Piano Teacher

By Spencer Remoquillo
Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
June 27, 2018

https://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/story/news/crime/2018/06/27/survivor-details-impact-sexual-assault-lancaster-music-instructor-carlyle-sparrow/737423002/

In more than 6,000 words, a teen victim — now a young woman — explained how being sexually assaulted by her 56-year-old piano teacher at a local church impacted her life.

The victim, who was 16 when the abuse started, read a detailed statement to Fairfield County Common Pleas Judge David Trimmer who sentenced her abuser, 56-year-old Carlyle Sparrow, to complete five years of community control and to register as a Tier III sex offender.

"I didn’t want to be at school," she said in court Monday. "I didn’t want to be at home. I didn’t want to be anywhere. I wanted to be dead. I wanted my living nightmare to stop. I Googled which type of pills I could take to kill myself and how many it would take. Every time I drove my car, I looked for the places on my road that would be ideal to crash my car: over a cliff, down a hill, in a ditch. I thought about my future and decided it wasn’t worth living. I would never be the girl I used to be."

The Eagle-Gazette preserves the identity of crime victims, particularly those who suffer sexual abuse.

Sparrow's attorney James Linehan said the relationship was consensual and at no point was there force or coercion. The age of consent in Ohio is 16, which is how old the victim said she was when the sex acts began. But, Linehan disagreed with the timeline and said the victim was 17.

"The allegations at the heart of this case involved a 17-year-old woman and a gentleman who was older than she was," Linehan said. "In all aspects, this was a consensual relationship."

The issue came, Linehan said, in determining if Sparrow held an authoritative position over the victim, which would make the sex acts illegal.

The victim met Sparrow in 2014 when she was 15 through another student, and they became friends.

"He volunteered at my school, and he kind of became a Christian mentor, and he also became my piano teacher," she said.

A trust broken

About a year and a half into the friendship, the victim said Sparrow expressed romantic feelings for her, even though he was married, and the abuse began. He also became her mentor for her senior project while she attended Fairfield Christian Academy, gaining more access to her and time alone.

"Throughout the abuse, he said to me, 'If this ever stops, if I ever stop doing what I am doing to you, it is because you stop it. I am unable to control myself. I will keep doing this until you say so. This is all on you,' she recalled. "He made me believe that it was up to me. I was the one who allowed it. He told me he, 'was not strong enough to stop himself.'

"Who says that to a kid? He was telling me that a 50-some-year-old married man did not have enough willpower or self-control to keep himself out of a young girl’s panties."

Linehan said Sparrow only gave four piano lessons to the victim. However, the victim alleges there were more.

In her statement, she explicitly described the abuse. She said Sparrow disrobed her in a church youth room, performed oral sex on a pastor's desk, groped her in a church prayer room and committed other sex acts in a church parking lot and at Sparrow's home.

Fairfield County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Reamer said Sparrow operates Sparrow Academy of Music and is not employed by Fairfield Christian Academy, but his students had performances there.

Some of the sex acts, Reamer said, were carried out at Hope Community Church of the Nazarene, formerly known as Gloryland Nazarene Church, in Greenfield Township where Sparrow worked as a church administrator. Pastor Kevin Seymour said Sparrow worked at the church for about 30 years until he resigned in 2017. The resignation was unrelated and occurred before the church was aware of any criminal allegations. Reamer said at no time was a sexual allegation reported to or ignored by church officials.

A secret uncovered

It was one of the victim's teachers that realized something was wrong and notified authorities in fall 2016. The victim said she was thankful for her school's involvement, including the administration acting quickly and banning Sparrow from school grounds.

At first, she said she was apprehensive to speak out against Sparrow because he had told her a story of another adult getting in trouble for having a sexual relationship with an underage individual. Knowing the severe implications of telling her story, she said she kept their relationship a secret.

Linehan said Sparrow was surprised by her statements to the judge and that they had an amicable relationship up until the allegations were reported.

The case was investigated for nearly a year before a grand jury indicted Sparrow on charges of sexual battery, a third-degree felony, and contributing to unruliness or delinquency of a child, a first-degree misdemeanor. On Monday, Sparrow pleaded guilty to both charges to resolve the case before trial.

While the victim said no punishment would repair the damage, she is satisfied with his sentence.

Why come forward?

The victim said she wanted to tell her story because she hopes people will learn from it.

“I wanted people to know that he was convicted of this because he’s in charge of an orchestra of kids," she said. "So I want parents to know what he’s been charged with.

I want people to know that this is so common ... It’s not strangers that this happens with.

“Be aware that the people who abuse kids are not dangerous looking, they're friendly … They look good on the outside, but they're evil on the inside.”

As a Tier III sex offender, Sparrow must report in person every 90 days for the rest of his life.

With Sparrow's sex offender registration, Linehan said his client is unsure what the future holds for his music business.

Contact: sremoquill@gannett.com

740-681-4342