Self-Proclaimed School Counselor Accused Of Having Sex With Now Pregnant Student
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Police are looking into claims against a self-proclaimed Baltimore City school administrator, who they believe had sex with a teenaged girl in his care.
Investigator Mike Hellgren has more on this case.
Prosecutors say inside his home in Edgewood in Harford County, Shawn Nowlin, a man who claimed to be an assistant principal in a Baltimore City elementary school, had sex several times with a 15-year-old girl he counseled.
Investigators say that teenager is now four months pregnant, and Nowlin--a married father --offered assistance to get her an abortion.
"You shouldn't have sex with a minor. Period," said Fred Friedel, neighbor.
Friedel lives just a few doors down. He's urging against a rush to judgment.
"I'm just waiting on results on the full investigation," Friedel said. "Once that comes out, I'll find out if he's guilty or not."
Charging documents reveal police built their case from a phone conversation they recorded between Nowlin and the teenager.
They say on that recording he admitted to having sex with her but said he "should have been smarter," and when asked about never using birth control, he stated that he "let his emotions take over." He also stated that it was never about the age with her and that he loves her.
Prosecutors say Nowlin had legal guardianship of the girl. He obtained it, they say, after convincing her mother he was a therapist and he would help counsel her with behavioral problems.
Prosecutors say Nowlin told them he was a therapist within the Baltimore City school system as well as assistant principal at Hazelwood in the northeast part of the city.
But city schools issued a short, two-sentence statement stating he is not currently employed, that he was a temporary employee at the school for one year, which ended in September.
According to WJZ's media partner The Baltimore Sun, Nowlin was only a hall monitor at the school, and the teenager was not a student there. None of their interactions took place on campus.
Nowlin is now free. Authorities released him on a $750,000 bail.
