Highlands community shocked after popular teacher, photographer accused of sexually assaulting 2 boys

Sean Dicer was a familiar face in the Highlands School District community.

He’d be seen at various sports events and activities, taking pictures of students. He was a popular teacher.

That made the news that broke Friday about Dicer, 53, being accused of sexually assaulting and extorting two boys at his Brackenridge home all the more shocking.

When rumors were going around social media in 2022, the year Dicer quit his teaching job at Highlands, about Dicer having inappropriate relationships with kids, Cassandra Burkett of Tarentum dismissed them. She’s involved with the Highlands Varsity Band Boosters.

“I just thought it was people that didn’t like him that were spreading rumors. I had no reason to think otherwise about him,” she said.

But Burkett said it made her sick to her stomach to learn that police accused Dicer of assaulting the two boys, then 11 and 12, during the summer of 2021 at his home.

“It made me sick just to know all the kids he’s been around for so long,” she said. “It’s sickening to know all the opportunities he could have had kids alone with him.”

Dicer was being held in the Allegheny County Jail after being denied bail at an arraignment Friday. He is scheduled to appear before Brackenridge District Judge Carolyn S. Bengel for a preliminary hearing Dec. 17.

Dicer has owned his home in Brackenridge since October 2012, according to Allegheny County real estate records.

A neighbor, who did not want his name published, said he was surprised to hear about the charges against Dicer.

“He always seemed like a good guy,” the neighbor said. “He was always nice to us.”

Dicer, the neighbor said, was always busy, running in and out. He was doing food delivery after leaving his teaching job.

Burkett said she didn’t know Dicer well but would see him at sports events, including her kids’ baseball games, taking pictures.

“He was at every event at the schools, whether it was a chorus concert or a band function. He seemed to be at every community event. He was always involved with the kids,” she said. “He was a staple in the community. Everywhere you went, he was there.”

Gary Meanor was involved with the Natrona Heights Baseball Softball Association for 32 years, during which he was president for about 24 years. He said parents paid Dicer to take action photos of their children and, for a few seasons, Dicer even paid registration fees for some boys to play.

“I’m shocked. I am definitely shocked. I didn’t know him well enough,” said Meanor, a Harrison commissioner. “You hear stories, and you really hope and pray it’s not in your own backyard or your community. I’m concerned for the young boys involved.”

Mike Choma, who announced Highlands football and basketball games for 25 years, remembers often seeing Dicer on the field from his vantage in the press box.

He called it a “sad situation.”

“It’s a shock to everybody, that’s for sure,” Choma said. “There’s a lot of people out there trying to do good for these kids. It’s almost a Jerry Sandusky situation.

“It’s all got to be litigated and sorted through. I don’t like to judge people,” he said. “If it happened, I hope the kids are going to be OK.”

Bill Heasley, a former Highlands athletic director and longtime assistant football coach, said he’d seen Dicer walking up and down the sideline at games, taking photos. But that was the only time he’d see him.

Heasley said he heard about Dicer being in trouble, which had something to do with kids, while at a Highlands basketball game Friday night and read up on the news Saturday morning.

“I was surprised. I didn’t really know him,” Heasley said. “There was never anything that would have led me to see he was doing something like that. He was just taking pictures and posting them online. It seemed to be innocent. The furthest thing from my mind was this is something that was going on.”

In addition to being known for his photography, Dicer was a well-known teacher, Burkett said.

Highlands Superintendent Monique Mawhinney would not release details on Dicer’s past employment with the district, including his length of employment or what subjects and grades he taught.

On his Facebook page, Dicer said he worked as a teacher at Highlands for more than 19 years, from August 2002 to January 2022.

Although Burkett said her children were never in Dicer’s class, she knew many who were.

“All the kids wanted him as a teacher. He was thought to be the ‘cool’ teacher. He was the teacher all the kids wanted to have as their teacher,” Burkett said. “I think he knew how to get on their level and communicate with them.”