Mark Brown was the principal of Highland Christian School. He got the job after being dismissed from a public school job as a wrestling coach. He was investigated there for an improper relationship with a female student. I guess it’s logical that he would move from wrestling coach to principle of a Christian high school. I don’t get it, but I”m sure it has something to do with forgiveness, second chances, and a lack of due diligence.
Brown was accused of kidnapping a 14-year-old female student, getting her drunk, and then sexually molesting her. He pled out on the kidnapping charge. The prosecutor dropped the child rape charge.
According to court documents, Brown helped the girl run away and he converted a seldom-used third floor room at the school into a home for the girl. It was there that Brown allegedly gave her rum and sexually molested her.
Brown actually asked the girl, “What do I get out of it?” when agreeing to help her run away from home. There is no mistaking his intent. He was trying to help an allegedly abused girl escape her own private hell by offering a slightly upscale private hell all of his own making. What a stain. Here is his explanation.
As for the incriminating text messages, Brown said he sent the girl a message in which he allegedly asked, "What do I get out of it?" because he was trying to make a deal with her to keep her from running away.
What kind of deal was he trying to make and how does this keep the girl from running away? I can paint a better picture. Brown sent hundreds of text messages to the girl encouraging her to run away. He provided a private room with a bed and a television. At no time did he perform his duty of care as a principal by informing the proper authorities that the girl was having trouble at home and was planning on running away. Everything about this case points to inappropriate action on the part of Mark Brown. Everything points to providing the means to violate a innocent young girl. Why did the prosecutors let him off? Apparently kidnapping is a more serious charge.
The spin Brown put on the story is amazing.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wish that I wouldn’t have gotten out of bed,” and went to the school, Brown said. “I wished I would have stayed here. I wish I would have called police.”
What he leaves out is that he planned to put the girl there. He planned to hide her from police. What he did not plan for was the girl being found out by teacher. It was only then he made a trip he regretted.
It gets worse. The reason he does not want to go to trial is ludicrous.
Brown said he chose not to take the case to trial because he was worried that others, including another teacher and two students, who were at the school with the girl also would be charged with kidnapping. They would have incriminated themselves by testifying about what really happened that night, he said.
“Enough damage has been done by this,” Brown said.
Right… This sound like the typical martyr line. It goes something like this. I don’t want other people to go to jail so even though I am innocent, I will take the fall. Oh, but I did not have sexual relations with her.
The real kicker is his character. It is entirely within his character to date a 14-year-old girl as an adult. Just look at his first wife.
Brown's ex-wife, Casey West, said she divorced Brown after she discovered text messages between him and a cheerleader from Concrete High School. West said she began dating Brown when she was 14 and he was 26. They married in 2002 when she was 20 with her family's disapproval.
Is there anybody out there who thinks that Mark Brown should ever be allowed near a child again? Anybody?
