CLEVELAND – A local theater teacher is indicted on sex charges involving a 15-year-old student.
According to an indictment filed Thursday, 45-year-old Douglas Collier of Cleveland, faces six counts including pandering sexually oriented material involving minor, illegal use of a minor and importuning.
Collier taught musical theater at the “Beck Center for the Arts” in Lakewood. Thursday afternoon, Fox 8 went to Collier’s home but he did not want to comment.
Prosecutors say through his teaching position at the Beck Center, Collier befriended a male student. According to the indictment, Collier asked the teen to help prepare for a role in which Collier needed to be nude.
After obtaining a search warrant, detectives found nude pictures of teenage boys involved in sex acts on Collier’s Blackberry.
Beck Center President and CEO Cindy Einhouse said, “Students really enjoyed his classes. It’s really a sad thing.”
Einhouse says the Beck Center did a background check on Collier in 2007 but he did not have any criminal history.
After news of the investigation, Collier was suspended from his teaching position. Last month, he was terminated.
The Beck Center sent a letter to parents and students which reads in part, “We have been assured by the police that they have found no evidence that this instructor approached any other Beck Center student in an inappropriate manner. We continue to cooperate fully with the authorities.”
Einhouse added, “We just won’t tolerate that kind of behavior here. As soon as we found it, that was it. We take very seriously the safety of our students.”
Collier is scheduled to be arraigned April 8th.
Article courtesy of: fox8.com
