The former Bonny Eagle High School cheerleading coach who is accused of having a sexual relationship with a student has fired his attorney.
The lawyer, Peter Rodway, filed a motion Thursday in Cumberland County Superior Court asking to withdraw from the case. The motion said that Nicholas Perry fired him and also that Perry had not paid him according to their agreement.
No other lawyer immediately filed a motion to represent Perry, 21, of Standish, who is due back in court in May.
The motion came a day after Rodway represented Perry when he entered no plea to charges of gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact. Perry, who resigned as winter cheerleading coach after he was arrested in January, remains free on $5,000 cash bail.
According to a police affidavit filed with the court, the alleged victim and Perry had a relationship when Perry was a senior at Bonny Eagle and the student was a freshman. But both Perry and the victim told detectives from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office that the relationship wasn’t sexual at that time.
Perry graduated from the school in 2014 and was hired as an assistant coach last summer. School officials said Perry received training for coaching, was fingerprinted and subjected to a background check, but that no specific educational or other experience was required for the position.
Perry and the student resumed their relationship in January, and Perry told detectives they had oral sex, according to the affidavit. The victim, who initially denied any sexual contact, said there were four instances of oral sex in Perry’s car in January.
School officials reported the alleged relationship in late January after receiving text messages about it from students.
Principal Lori Napolitano told detectives that there was a “lot of drama” on the cheering squad over which students would cheer in which routines and the naming of captains. One of the students who reported the alleged relationship between Perry and the student told detectives she was upset over being moved to the back line in one cheer.
Bonny Eagle’s athletic director said he spoke with Perry “three or four times” about maintaining boundaries with students but that was because of Perry’s age and the fact that he had been a student at the same time as some of the seniors on the cheering squad. The athletic director said the discussions weren’t prompted by any reports about or observations of inappropriate behavior between Perry and the students.
Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:
emurphy@pressherald.com
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