Former Raleigh teacher pleads guilty to indecent liberties charge

RALEIGH, NC -- A former teacher at a Raleigh private school pleaded guilty Monday to taking inappropriate photos of students.

Scott Anthony Mann, 37, of Durham, pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a child.

According to arrest warrants, the victims were under the age of 16 and the incidents happened between September and November in 2014.

Mann was a teacher at St. David's School - an independent Episcopal school in Raleigh - that has students K-12 at its campus on White Oak Road. He was also the associate director of the North Carolina Boys Choir.

Ahead of sentencing, Asst. District Attorney Melanie Shekita explained in court that Raleigh police detectives, while combing through Mann's electronic devices, discovered pictures of 7 boys taken inside the bathroom of the NC Boys Choir building in Orange County. Another 10 boys were photographed while using the restroom inside the St. David's school bathroom.

Shekita described the day one of those students noticed he was being photographed.

"A young boy by the name of ... was in the bathroom stall, noticed a camera reaching up over- like a cell phone camera- reaching up over the stall, heard what he believed to be a click which he thought a photograph had been taken," she said. "[The victim] believed that the shoes were of Mr. Mann and actually called out his name at that point. He did not answer."

She said when Mann was confronted about the pictures, he denied any wrongdoing.

"He did tell the St. David's officials that he was in the bathroom and got a cramp while he was holding his cell phone and had to stretch his arm and that may be why the student saw a camera, but was not doing anything," she said.

Mann was fired prior to his arrest.

Mann has been sentenced to five to eight years in prison and will be a registered sex offender for the next 30 years.

After the sentencing Monday, St. David's issued a statement:

As you may recall, the school conducted a swift and thorough examination of allegations of Mr. Mann's inappropriate behavior, and cooperated fully with authorities in their investigation. As he was last fall, Mr. Mann has been taken into custody-this time, to serve a sentence of from five to eight years.
Our number one priority is to protect St. David's students and to make sure the educational experience at our school is exceptionally positive.
We are grateful the judicial process has taken its course, and will continue to keep you informed if and when there is additional information to report.