Indianapolis school signs agreement to avoid prosecution

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Federal prosecutors have reached a deal with an exclusive private Indianapolis school under which it can avoid prosecution for not properly reporting an inappropriate relationship between a former basketball coach and a 15-year-old female student, they announced Tuesday.

U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler and the chairman of Park Tudor's board of trustees, Tom Grein, signed a 10-page deferred prosecution agreement stating Head of School Matthew Miller concealed information related to the relationship that coach Kyle Cox initiated in September 2015. Miller committed suicide in January.

A report on the relationship submitted to the Indiana Department of Child Services last Dec. 15 "omitted key facts and circumstances related to the sexually explicit communications" between Cox and the girl, including that Miller was aware of the existence of explicit images and videos the girl had created at Cox's request.

In a telephone call over speakerphone that day, a DCS official asked school officials whether any pictures were exchanged. Even though Miller knew the answer was "yes," he was silent when another school official indicated she "had no information on that," the agreement said.

The same day, Miller sent a confidentiality agreement to Cox under which Park Tudor would release a statement that the coach had resigned, and in return Cox would agree not to communicate with Park Tudor students or to discuss the reason for his resignation.

The next day, Miller authorized Park Tudor's outside counsel at Ice Miller to negotiate a confidentiality agreement with the parents of the girl.

The agreement also says that Miller on Jan. 21 made false and misleading statements about the matter to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department detective. Two days later, Miller committed suicide.

Under the agreement, Park Tudor agreed to meet conditions over three years including not breaking any laws, promptly reporting allegations of suspected child abuse and neglect, continuing to provide employee training on child abuse and operating under the oversight of an independent monitor, retired federal appeals court Judge John Tinder of Indianapolis.

If Park Tudor fails to meet the conditions, it could face prosecution for concealment of a felony, the agreement said.

Cox was sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty in May to a charge of coercion and enticement for trying to have sex with the student.

Park Tudor issued a statement to its school community in which it admitted making mistakes.

"Kyle Cox's reprehensible and criminal actions were wrong - both legally and morally - and a betrayal of that for which our school stands. Moreover, Park Tudor's response, through the actions of Matthew Miller and the school's then legal counsel, was inappropriate and not what we expect from our school. Nor is it what we will tolerate going forward," the statement said.

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This story has been corrected to show the name of the Park Tudor chairman is Grein, not Green.