FLORIDA
Tampa Bay Times
By Sara DiNatale, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
TAMPA — Tampa Preparatory School has sent a letter to parents informing them of the private school’s connection to an unfolding sexual abuse scandal in Rhode Island.
Franklin Coleman, a Tampa Prep music teacher from 1997 to 2008, has been accused of sexually abusing boys while working at St. George’s School, an Episcopalian prep school in Middletown, R.I.
One of the accusers, Hawkins Cramer, spoke with the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday and said Coleman sexually abused him while he was at St. George’s from 1981 to 1985.
Coleman did not respond to several attempts by the Times to contact him this week. He denied comment to a New York Times reporter outside his Newark, N.J. home Tuesday. He told the reporter to “talk to my lawyer,” but did not provide a name. He has not been charged with any crimes.
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