No Charges for Manatee County Principal

SARASOTA – The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office has closed its investigation into whether a Manatee County principal deliberately misled officials when he recommended a teacher for two positions in Sarasota County while the teacher was under investigation for accusations of touching an underage student. The teacher was later arrested as a result of the investigation.

Eddie Hundley is principal of Lincoln Memorial Academy. The school was previously known as Lincoln Memorial Middle Schoolbefore it was converted to a district charter school that is scheduled to open this month. Hundley was the Lincoln principal when a music teacher was accused of touching students on at least two occasions dating back to 2016.

Hundley knew of the two investigations, calling the state's abuse hotline at one point to report the teacher after a foster mother turned over a journal of one student alleging a teacher had touched her inappropriately, but still recommended the teacher for the positions in Sarasota County after he resigned from Manatee while still under investigation by the Palmetto Police department and the Manatee County School District.

The teacher, Quentin Peterson, was arrested in April on felony charges of possession of child pornography. He was working as a math teacher for Booker High at the time. On his application to Sarasota Schools, Peterson cited "family problems" as his reason for leaving Manatee.

In his references, Hundley checked "no" on a box that asked whether he had any reason to believe Peterson should not work with children, prompting the Sarasota School District to later file a complaint with the Florida Department of Education.

In total, Peterson, 25, was accused of having illegal interactions with minors on three occasions in the past, though he was ultimately arrested for a previously unknown incident, the evidence for which was found after police seized his personal electronics.

The first incident occurred in 2012, when Peterson was a 19-year-old student at the University of Florida. A 16-year-old girl accused him of touching her under her clothing while the two were alone in a sound booth at Palmetto High School, despite her objections. According to the police report, Peterson admitted to the accusations and apologized to the girl during a recorded phone call, then confirmed the accusations in interviews with police officers. Prosecutors, however, decided not to file the battery charge recommended by police.

Though the student in the journal incident told police she'd made the story up when questioned, a second Lincoln student accused Peterson of touching her thigh while they were alone in his office last school year. The girl left the room immediately and reported the incident. Manatee Schools placed Peterson on a temporary, non-classroom assignment in late May as the investigation continued.

Authorities then seized his laptop and two phones in June. On August 18, Manatee Schools placed Peterson on paid administrative leave after investigators found several nude photos of a different underage girl on his phone, along with text messages and a picture of the two kissing in bed. Peterson then resigned from the district and applied to work as a teacher in Sarasota later the same month.

Palmetto Police Chief Scott Tyler said that Hundley knew about the images and that his department was pushing for criminal charges. An email from the district's attorney to Hundley also notes the severity of the accusations and that police had enough probable cause to seize Peterson's electronics. Hundley made his first recommendation for a substitute position in Sarasota 10 days after Peterson’s official resignation from Manatee, followed by a second recommendation this February for the math teacher position at Booker.

Sheriff Rick Wells resigned from Lincoln Memorial’s board at a meeting this week, saying his presence had become a distraction. Other board members stood by Hundley. The board released a joint statement this week that called the focus on Hundley's actions "ludicrous," claiming that it also "smacks of racism (Hundley and Peterson are both African American) and a tribal mentality." The statement also implied that the ulterior motive of undermining a charter school was a factor. Hundley has said that since the district had not "fired" Peterson and he hadn't been arrested yet, there exists no fault in his recommendations.

More than 460 students are enrolled at Lincoln Memorial for the 2018-2019 school year. Peterson will stand trial on one felony count of possessing child pornography in February of 2019.