Ex Howe Commandant Accused of Seducing Boy

Indianapolis Star ^ | 3-21-2002 | Associated Press

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LaGRANGE, Ind. -- A former commandant at Howe Military School in northeastern Indiana has been accused of having a sexual encounter with a 16-year-old male student.

Jonathon MacKay, 43, who now lives in Florida, appeared in LaGrange Superior Court on Tuesday for an initial hearing on a charge of child seduction. A plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf, and he was released on $3,500 bond.

He was charged March 5 with the felony count and faces up to three years in prison if convicted.

A man contacted the LaGrange County Sheriff's Department in December and said his son, who was a student at the private school during the 2000-01 academic year, had been the victim of a sex crime there.

According to court documents, the teen gave investigators this version of events:

During the summer months, when MacKay was commandant, MacKay asked him for help with a computer program at his campus home. While there, MacKay kissed the boy while retrieving a computer disk. MacKay then led the boy to his bedroom, where the two undressed each other and engaged in mutual oral sex.

Col. Tom Merritt, the school's interim superintendent, said Wednesday that the commandant is in charge of cadets at the school, which has about 400 boys and girls in Grades 5-12. MacKay was commandant at Howe Military School for a few months last year before resigning.

Merritt declined to comment on why MacKay resigned.

MacKay's attorney, Richard Muntz, declined to comment on the case to The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne on Tuesday. A telephone message seeking comment was left at his office Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Merritt said he could not comment on the allegations against MacKay because he had not seen court documents related to the case. Merritt said the school has cooperated in the investigation.

The school is in Howe, about 40 miles north of Fort Wayne.

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Obviously you can't even send your child to a private school anymore and feel safe. These people are everywhere they think they can gain access to young men. This includes the priesthood, military schools, elementary schools, youth sports leagues, YMCA youth groups and there but for the grace of the USSC, the Boy Scouts. We must understand that they have an agenda and they will never stop pushing, and therefore we can never stop fighting back. Parents need to be made aware of the perverted predators that are out there looking for their sons. Hopefully Americans will get over this infatuation with non-judgemental political correctness,and come to understand homosexuals are not just like everybody else. They are sick, peverted, predators whose main goal in life is have sex with as many males as possible before they die, and the younger the better.