Police: Teen said Rock Hill assistant principal sent nude phots of himself

The second of two victims in the sexual misconduct case against a former Northwestern High assistant principal has said he sent her five nude pictures of himself over a period of several months when she was 15, police testified Tuesday.

Rock Hill Police Detective Brooks Felmet testified about the second victim during a preliminary hearing Tuesday on four of the 11 charges against Kenneth Andrew Williams.

Judge Lewis Daniel Malphrus Jr. ruled that there is sufficient evidence for a trial on the four charges, the second such ruling this month. In a separate hearing earlier this month, another judge found enough evidence to prosecute Williams on five other charges.

Williams, 31, who resigned from the Rock Hill school district in early June, is accused of sexual misconduct with two females, both Northwestern students at the time of the alleged crimes. He is free on $125,000 bond.

Williams is accused of having a sexual relationship with the first victim beginning when she was 15 and sending the girls nude pictures of himself and videos of himself masturbating via Snap Chat, a social media platform.

Felmet testified that the second victim in the Williams case, a Northwestern student at the time, received nude images of Williams from him via Snap Chat between the fall of 2014 and the spring of 2015, when she was 15.

Felmet also testified that the first victim, who told police she had a sexual relationship with Williams beginning when she was 15, said that Williams sent her videos of himself masturbating via Snap Chat, including a video that was shot in Williams’ office at Northwestern.

Williams’ attorney, Twana Burris-Alcide, waived a preliminary hearing on two of the 11 charges, first-degree sexual exploitation of a child and disseminating obscene material to a minor. Malphrus’ ruling Tuesday was on four additional charges of disseminating obscene material to a minor.

Felmet said the first victim has told police that Williams began sending her nude pictures of himself in July 2015. He said that text messages police retrieved from Williams to the victim refer to a “gift” he sent her on Snap Chat.

Felmet testified that, with one exception, police don’t have any visual evidence to show the content of the videos and photos that Williams sent on Snap Chat because the images or videos are deleted from Snap Chat shortly after they are viewed by the recipient.

He testified that police have obtained logs of Snap Chat activity that show the time of the exchanges between Williams and both girls and the type of content that was sent, but not images of the content.

Felmet said the exception to that involves one Snap Chat image received by the first victim from Williams. He said the girl opened and viewed the image in the presence of police in April, after she accused him of raping her.

Felmet said it was an image of Williams’ naked buttocks with the words, “Happy Thursday, do I get one of the same view?” He said the picture appeared to have been taken in the bathroom of Williams’ home, which police searched.

Burris-Alcide asked Malphrus to dismiss four of the charges, saying prosecutors don’t have evidence to show the content of the images or videos Williams sent was obscene.

But Felmet and Deputy 16th Circuit Solicitor Erin Joyner said they will have testimony from the victims to show that. Joyner said the victims’ testimony “is sufficient as to the character of the photos.”

Said Malphrus: “It seems like, based on the testimony I hear, that the state is going to have to depend on the sworn testimony of a witness. It does concern me greatly.”

However, Malphrus said, “I am going to give the benefit to witnesses who have said this is what happened.”

Circuit Court Judge Mandrile Young ruled on five other charges against Williams earlier this month, finding probable cause to try him on four counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 7:32 AM with the headline "Police: Teen said Rock Hill assistant principal sent nude phots of himself."