Frazier Pleads Guilty to Harassment to Avoid Third Trial

LOCK HAVEN – Former Central Mountain High School music and drama teacher Scott C. Frazier this morning entered a guilty plea before President Judge Craig P. Miller, to one count of harassment, a summary offense.

Frazier’s plea comes just days before he was scheduled to pick a jury in Tioga County for what would have been the third jury trial for the former drama club advisor at Central Mountain High School.  Frazier’s first trial resulted in a mistrial as jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.  Frazier, 45, was convicted following a second trial, but the verdict was overturned by President Judge Craig P. Miller after evidence was discovered that testimony and evidence may not have been reliable.

“This plea was the result of a great deal of communication with the victim.  He deserves to be able to move on with his life, but he also deserves accountability,” District Attorney Dave Strouse said.  “The victim has been called a liar for over three years. It’s a difficult decision to agree to a plea like this, but in the end, it was a decision that he felt was in his best interest.”

The plea entered by Frazier today was referred to as an “Alford plea,” which is a guilty plea entered by a defendant whereby the defendant does not admit to the specific facts alleged, but concedes that the evidence and facts would result in a conviction for the specific offense.

Frazier was charged in 2013 with one count of indecent assault, a second degree misdemeanor, and one count of harassment for allegedly touching an 18 year old male student in the early morning hours of March 28, 2013.

The second trial had occurred in December of 2014. Judge Miller in March of last year sentenced Frazier to two years probation; today’s plea negates that trial’s outcome and follow-up procedings.