The drama teacher who was suspended with pay this weekend after being arrested on charges of sexual misconduct with a student may have lied on his application, Superintendent Don Martin said today.
Ralph David Surridge, 57, of 2295 Jay Dee Drive in Winston-Salem, was arrested by the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office Saturday on 10 counts relating to sexual misconduct; charges of possession of firearms by a felon were added Sunday.
He had been convicted of embezzlement in New Hanover County in 1985 and was sentenced to six months and three years probation, according to court records.
Surridge never indicated on his application that he had been convicted of a felony, Martin said today. And when school officials did a criminal record search, it showed that he was found not guilty on a charge of forgery and uttering. Martin said school officials would not have hired Surridge if he had been a convicted felon.
Deputies began investigating Surridge Thursday after a school-system administrator contacted the sheriff's office to report allegations of an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and a student at Mineral Springs Middle School.
Surridge has worked for the school system for seven years, all of those years at Mineral Springs, said Theo Helm, a spokesman for the school system. Parents at the school were called and told about the charges against Surridge.
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