Grand jury charges teacher with 261 sex crimes over year
Case involves 6th-grader at small private school; investigation continuing
By GREG LACOUR
MORGANTON -- A Burke County grand jury has charged a veteran teacher with 261 sex crimes, all allegedly in a year's time against one sixth-grader.
> Police continue to investigate complaints against 52-year-old Winfred Leo Snow Jr. and say more charges are likely.
> "I have very reliable information that this has been going on for over 20 years," Morganton Department of Public Safety Detective Mike Longpre said Tuesday. "A lot of people are bringing this stuff forward now. They've heard of his arrest, and they call me and say, `Well, back in whenever, this happened to me, and I'm willing to tell you about it.'
> "I'm still working it every single day, all day."
> The indictments, handed down Monday and released to the public Tuesday, charge Snow with 87 counts each of three felonies: first-degree statutory sexual offense, indecent liberties with a child and sexual activity with a student by a schoolteacher.
> Police would not release details about the crimes but said all occurred at The Children's School, a private, 81-student school where Snow taught.
> Authorities arrested Snow on June 15, two days after the boy had told his mother a teacher had sexually assaulted him at school and during weekend outings to the Wilson Creek area of Caldwell County. Police interviewed the boy the next day and another student with a similar story the day of Snow's arrest.
> Snow taught language arts, humanities, science and social studies to middle school students from August 1991 until the school suspended him after his arrest. He remains in the county jail on $500,000 bond.
> Snow enjoyed a long and apparently distinguished career as an educator in Burke County. The Western Carolina University graduate taught social studies at Freedom High School in Morganton from August 1974 until he resigned in 1990.
> Some complaints police are investigating date back to Snow's days at Freedom, but the teacher had never been charged with a felony or named in a lawsuit before his arrest, court records show. His worst offense was a speeding ticket in 1993. He paid a $20 fine.
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