Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406290120
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"[It] came after the developments in Lynchburg, especially the revelation about the statements the victim made within the [recent] past that questioned his credibility," said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Randy C. Krantz. "But in no way should it be interpreted that we disbelieve the victim."
A Bedford County grand jury was to hear the charges Tuesday.
Dixon, 37, a former Bedford County elementary school principal and a part-time counselor at Opportunity House, a Lynchburg home for troubled youths, was accused of sodomizing and taking indecent liberties with a 16-year-old boy at Opportunity House.
Bedford County officials charged Dixon after the boy said sexual encounters also took place at Huddleston Elementary School, where Dixon was principal.
Dixon has maintained his innocence.
After hearing of the outcome in Bedford County, Dixon's attorney, R. Andrew Davis, said "it was sincerely hoped for, but not anticipated."
The 16-year-old was discredited Monday in Lynchburg Circuit Court by defense witnesses, who said he had a reputation for lying. A youth counselor who spoke with the boy June 20 testified that the teen-ager said he had a problem with lying and did not know how to control it.
That testimony, along with testimony from workers at Opportunity House - including a couple who said the boy had threatened their jobs - helped a jury acquit Dixon in seven minutes.
Testifying Monday before the Lynchburg jury, Dixon said he had spent 15 years educating, coaching and working with children. Feb.9, after the allegations of sexual abuse were made, his eight-year career at Huddleston Elementary and his counseling at Opportunity House came to a halt.
In court, Davis portrayed the boy as a compulsive liar who had threatened to end Dixon's livelihood on several occasions.
Dixon testified that the boy would get mad ``and if I didn't do what he wanted me to immediately ... he'd say, `I'll have your job.'''
If additional evidence comes forward in the case in the next three months, Krantz said, prosecutors could again bring the case to a grand jury; but at this time, that does not seem likely.
"Mr. Dixon has been before a jury of his peers, and a prosecutor's job is to honestly see that justice is done," Krantz said. "And to proceed in this matter would not be in the interest of justice."
Memo: Shorter version ran in the metro edition