It’s not a crime for two boys to hug.
That was the defense offered by attorney Duke George while representing former Highlands School District teacher Sean Dicer during a preliminary hearing Wednesday at District Judge Michael Girardi’s office in Harmar.
Dicer, 53, of Brackenridge, sat quietly during the hearing on charges that included indecent assault, child endangerment, unlawful contact with a minor and child corruption.
In the end, he was held for court on all charges. A formal arraignment is scheduled for 1 p.m. April 30 at the Allegheny County Courthouse.
Accusations stem from three separate incidents in 2007 when Dicer was a fifth-grade teacher at the former Fairmount Elementary School.
The victim, now 28, testified that Dicer asked him and another student to lift their shirts and hug while he photographed them inside his classroom.
On another occasion, the victim said, Dicer grabbed his buttocks and shoved his hand down the pants of the other boy.
In all, Dicer is accused of three incidents in which, police say, he approached the boys and asked them to retrieve a fake cash box from his classroom, according to testimony. The monetary reward system called “BD Bucks” allowed students to earn fake currency for good test scores or other classroom chores.
“We were sent upstairs to get the box,” the victim testified. “(Dicer) came up a few seconds later and asked us to hug while he took a picture. We obliged.”
The pair were alone in the classroom with Dicer while other students were elsewhere in the school for an assembly, according to the victim.
It happened again weeks later, the victim said, but this time, Dicer asked the boys to lift their shirts while hugging.
The victim testified that it made him uncomfortable, but he agreed.
During the third instance, the victim said, “(Dicer) asked me if he could touch me, and I asked, ‘Where?’
“He grabbed me on my buttocks and said, ‘Here.’”
The victim said he told Dicer, “No.”
According to the victim’s testimony, Dicer moved to the second boy and placed his hand down the child’s pants.
“He looked back at me and offered BD Bucks, and then said, ‘Are you sure?’” the victim said.
George said he was perplexed at how the victim could remember details of the incidents but not the date or time of day they happened.
“Did it offend you to hug a friend?” George asked. “(Dicer) didn’t threaten you, did he?”
At one point, George asked the victim why he didn’t tell anyone and then said, “If he didn’t tell anyone, then it didn’t happen?”
He argued that charges related to the first two incidents should be dropped. Prosecutor Tom Kelly disagreed, saying they show a course of conduct that increases to the level of assault.
“He was an authority, supervising the welfare of a child and offered him money to touch him,” Kelly said. “The totality of the incidents indicate it was escalating in a sexual manner.”
Dicer is currently on house arrest stemming from another, similar set of charges filed by Allegheny County Police in December. In that case, Dicer is accused of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, unlawful contact with a minor and sexual extortion.
A March 5 arraignment and hearing are scheduled downtown in that case.
