Former teacher's case headed to grand jury

KINGSTREE — A Williamsburg County magistrate found probable cause to send the case of David L. Tisdale, a former Williamsburg County teacher accused of inappropriate behavior with students, to a grand jury. Williamsburg County Magistrate Ellerbe Ackerman made the ruling during a preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon regarding the Aug. 25 arrest of the former Kingstree Elementary School teacher on the charge of indecent exposure.
Tisdale is accused of exposing himself to a high school student in 1993, Kingstree Police Chief Robert Ford said in an earlier interview.
According to the testimony given at the Sept. 24 hearing by Valerie Williams, an agent with the State Law Enforcement Division working on the investigation, the victim told police he was helping Tisdale move equipment from the school district’s media center to an area science fair when the incident occurred. Williams said according to the victim’s statement, the suspect presented a pornographic video, asked if the student wanted to join him and exposed himself.
Williams said the victim reported he declined Tisdale’s offer and the two finished delivering the equipment.
The SLED agent also offered testimony regarding the other reported incidents that led to the former teacher’s arrest in late August. Williams said victims told her the “vast majority” of the incidents took place “on or around school grounds.”
Attorney Charles David Barr of Barr and Barr PA in Kingstree represented Tisdale at the hearing. He objected to testimony dealing with events other than those surrounding the 1993 incident being presented as evidence before the court.
“Given the nature of these proceedings and given the attention that the proceedings have drawn, I believe it is inherently prejudicial to allow the prosecution at a preliminary hearing where they are attempting to establish probable cause regarding a specific event,” Barr said. “We are getting into a whole bunch of issues that somewhere in the future, they will cause a whole bunch of problems. We’re not dealing with the issue at hand.”
The solicitor’s office responded that a review of past evidence was necessary to establish Tisdale’s intent involving the 1993 incident. Ackerman allowed such testimony to continue.
Barr’s questions at the hearing sought to cast doubt on a number of matters in the case, which included filing a motion for Ackerman to recuse himself from the hearing because he was the judge who authorized the original arrest warrant.
That motion was denied.
The Kingstree attorney also called into question a number of details involving the case, including whether or not the victim could properly identify Tisdale as the teacher who accompanied him to the media center that day. Barr also questioned if the material presented to the student was really pornographic, whether SLED searched the area for pornographic material and the exact location the where incident occurred. The attorney questioned whether the victim could properly identify Tisdale as the teacher who exposed himself, the location of the incident, whether the material the former student claimed to be pornographic actually was or not
Lake City attorney Cezar McKnight has been obtained as legal counsel by the former student, who has since graduated and is now a young adult. The victim’s identity remains unknown.
The events leading up to the Sept. 24 hearing stem back to when Tisdale was accused of soliciting sex from a student via e-mail earlier this year. He was subsequently placed on administrative leave by the Williamsburg County School District on April 3 and his employment was later terminated. Kingstree police said their initial investigation showed no wrongdoing by Tisdale, but the investigation led them to re-examine the 1993 incident, ultimately resulting in his Aug. 25 arrest.
Questions remain unanswered regarding actions taken after the former student reported the incident to authorities at the Williamsburg County Schools District. While the victim told Williams he remembered providing a written statement to district authorities, records she acquired from the district did not include any such statement. Letters warning the teacher against any inappropriate conduct towards students and testimonies from other former students have been handed over to authorities.
Tisdale is also at the root of a separate legal action filed by McKnight against the school district itself. The attorney said he has filed a case against the district on behalf of another former Tisdale student and expects to go to trial sometime in the next year and a half, provided a settlement isn’t reached beforehand.
McKnight’s client claims the teacher propositioned students for sex sometime between 2005 and 2006. When his client’s mother, an employee of the district, issued a complaint regarding the incident, McKnight said she was subsequently demoted. The attorney also said Tisdale was named Teacher of the Year within the district about the time the alleged incident occurred.