Fulcher pleads

No jury showed up for day two of the trial for former Bethel Christian Academy principal Michael Fulcher and his alleged sexual relations with an 18-year-old female student.

The state called off the 12-member panel Tuesday morning and constructed a plea arrangement for Fulcher that diminished four counts of felony sex offenses into one count of misdemeanor assault on a female — delaying Tuesday’s proceedings by 45 minutes.

Fulcher, 39, accepted the “offer plea” and had 60 days of jail time suspended for one-year probation, during which time he can not seek employment in education, ruled John Nobles, a superior court judge from Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties filling in for resident judge Paul Jones.

The four felony charges dismissed by the state included sex offense with a student, taking indecent liberties with a student, crimes against nature and sexual battery. Fulcher, who had no prior criminal record, could have received a maximum of 150 days in jail for pleading guilty to the misdemeanor assault charge.

The plea offer made by the prosecution was “the first plea they ever offered to me,” Fulcher said in an exclusive interview with The Free Press following his hearing.

Fulcher said the prosecutors’ sudden change in course came Monday when Nobles made a number of motions concerning what evidence may be included as relevant to the case.

Nobles decided Monday to allow a separate charge of rape Fulcher’s alleged victim levied more than five years ago, which a past grand jury dismissed, as relevant to weighing her credibility and to exclude an owner of a Winterville adult store called Intimate Moments from testifying.

The alleged victim, seated in the courtroom behind Imelda Pate, state prosecutor, and next to her mother, claimed on March 1, 2009 — the date the sexual encounter allegedly happened — Fulcher met her at the Piggly Wiggly in Ayden and drove her to Winterville to buy lingerie at Intimate Moments. She also claimed Fulcher requested to sign a waiver granting her access to the store’s adult section since she did not have her ID on hand.

Lisa Donias Webber — the only employee at the store on duty on March 1— denied the event took place, despite the store’s owner stating she called them afterwards about the incident.

One day after the court selected jurors for trial and prepared to call more than 45 witnesses to the stand, Fulcher and his attorney, David Fillipelli, said they were prepared to fight “this to the very end.

“I still maintain my innocence — what I was being accused of never happened,” Fulcher said. “But in the end, it’s still a gamble and a roll of the dice when you’re dealing with a jury. There was no (scientific) evidence, only an accusation, and it was going to be a ‘he said, she said’ thing.”

Fulcher said he could not take that gamble, which, upon conviction, could have included registering him on the National Sex Offender’s list and barring him from seeing his four children —  three daughters and a son between the ages of 12 and 4 — at any of their schools or sporting events.

“Even though I was confident (the jury) was going to believe us, I couldn’t gamble with my family and my kids,” said Fulcher, who accepted the plea with his wife Sarai at his side and the fate of his family in mind.

“Basically, we did it for our kids and for our family’s sake,” he added. “I hated to do it and I didn’t want to do it, but when we weighed the options and we weighed the risks, we thought this was the best move to protect our family and to protect our kids. They’ve been through enough already.”

The case against Fulcher started building on March 8, 2009, when a female he knew, told her Tanglewood Church of God Sunday school teacher and Bethel Christian Academy administrators that Fulcher sent her inappropriate text messages — some sexual in nature — according to Pate.

Within the subsequent weeks of that first confession, the alleged victim’s story changed in conversations with her boyfriend and Maj. Greg Thompson of the Kinston Department of Public Safety to renditions that included her touching Fulcher’s genitals in an Auto Zone parking lot in Greenville near the intersection of N.C. 11 and Fire Tower Road and another of oral sex at that same location, Pate said during Tuesday’s hearing.

The alleged victim, who said the two went to the automotive store since Fulcher needed windshield wipers for his truck, also claimed Fulcher told her to lay down to not be seen and that the two discussed having sex that day, but couldn’t since she was on her menstrual cycle.

“I am not going to say anything about (the case),” the victim told The Free Press Tuesday.

Fulcher admitted to sending his alleged victim inappropriate text messages — not a criminal act  — but categorically denies having any sexual contact with the alleged victim, a criminal act and the trial’s purpose to determine.

“It is an ever-changing story,” Fillippeli, said. “She says it happened and my client says it didn’t and he has not made several inconsistent statements to different people of the events that went on March 1, 2009.”

Phone records from Alltel and U.S. Cellular confirm Fulcher did exchange more than 250 text messages with the alleged victim between January and April 2009 — peaking with 95 on March 1 — and cell tower records pin the two to being in the Ayden Piggly Wiggly and Greenville Auto Zone parking lot March 1, 2009.

The contents of the messages could not be recovered, but the date and time could, Pate said.

“No matter how poor of a judgment he made in sending text messages to an 18-year-old student, he has paid for that in his career,” Fillippeli said. “He has been discharged from his employment, lost his job and means of support for his family, and is not (likely) to get hired.”

Nobles ended Tuesday’s hearing saying no one may ever know the truth behind the case, but that he does know one thing for sure: Fulcher should not be in the classroom.

“Where the truth lies in this case is not for me to ascertain, but from the text messages I understand you sent, you do not (need to be involved in education),” Nobles said. “You need to reconsider that, at least that is this court’s opinion.”

Wesley Brown can be reached at 252-559-1075 or at wbrown@freedomenc.com. Free Press Managing Editor Bryan Hanks contributed to this report. You can reach him at bhanks@freedomenc.com or 252-559-1074.

Breakout: Timeline

March 1, 2009: The date an 18-year-old senior at Bethel Christian Academy alleges school Principal Michael Fulcher picks her up at the Piggly Wiggly in Ayden, drives her to Intimate Moments adult store in Greenville and has a sexual encounter with him at the Auto Zone near the intersection of N.C. 11 and Fire Tower Road.

March 8, 2009: The victim tells a Tanglewood Church Sunday school teacher and Bethel Christian Academy administrators of Fulcher texting her inappropriate messages — some sexual in nature — between January and April 2009. She denies sexual contact between the two.

March 18, 2009: Fulcher resigns as BCA principal after serving in the position since June 2007. School administrators send a letter home with Bethel students explaining Fulcher’s resignation because the former principal exchanged inappropriate text messages with a student.

March 30, 2009: Maj. Greg Thompson, of the Kinston Department of Public Safety, opens a nine-month investigation with the State Bureau of Investigation, seizing Fulcher’s school-assigned laptop and cell phone.

April 1, 2009: The alleged victim tells Thompson in an interview Fulcher took her to the Auto Zone parking lot, at which time she touched his genitals.

April 1, 2009 to December 2009: The alleged victim tells her boyfriend she performed oral sex on Fulcher on March 1, 2009. Investigators interview friends, teachers, family and the school pastor of her and Fulcher.

Dec. 18, 2009: Fulcher indicted on four felony sex charges by a grand jury.

Jan. 5, 2010: Fulcher has his first date in court.

Tuesday: Fulcher accepts state-arranged plea for 60 days in jail suspended for one year probation for misdemeanor assault on a female.