Jeffrey. R. Fisher, 34, has been charged with having sex with two underage girls
A former principal of the year has been charged with having sex with two underage female students.
Jeffrey R. Fisher, 34, is accused of having the relationships with the two girls between 2009 and 2010 and 2011 and 2012 while working at Chillicothe High School in Ohio.
He was made principal there in 2011 and in 2015, was named Ohio’s principal of the year.
On Thursday, he was issued a summons to appear in court on seven felony sexual battery charges which he denies.
Police have not given details of the accusations against him but they say they are the result of months of investigative work.
The girls were 16 and 17 at the time he is alleged to have had sex with them.
He is accused of exchanging inappropriate text messages and having phone calls with one of the girls.
Police say both were his students before he became the principal.
‘With both students, the relationship was first as a teacher then as principal,’ Ross County Prosecutor Matt Schmidt said.
‘Certainly with at least one victim, phone records will show substantial telephone and text contact.’
Fisher’s attorneys said they had been aware of the accusations ‘for years’ and planned to fight them.
Fisher was named Ohio’s Principal of the Year in 2015 for his work at Chillicothe High School
‘We’ve been aware of these accusations for years and we’ll be entering a not guilty plea,’ attorney Brad Koffel told USA Today.
Fisher has been working from home since August, it was revealed this week, after school officials became aware of the allegations. The school board confirmed his suspension in light of the charges last Thursday.
The investigation was prompted in August when current students told staff they had heard rumors of him being inappropriate with pupils.
It is not clear if the rumors involved the alleged victims in the charges.
The two underage girls have since graduated from the school.
Fisher was the principal at Chillicothe High School in Ohio but he has been working from home since the allegations surfaced in August