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Glory hole’ exposed at Ledford High
Former teacher allegedly offered to
pay students for sex acts on campus
BY ELIOT DUKE
Staff Writer
A former Ledford High
School science teacher
charged with having sex
with two of his students
is accused of offering to
pay for sex from a Thom-
asville teenager at a se
cret location on school
grounds.
According to docu
ments obtained from the
Forsyth County Clerk of
Courts Office, Scott Ring,
42, of 936 S. Ridge Court
in Winston-Salem, alleg
edly posed as a 17-year-
old girl named Jennifer
from Winston-Salem in
2009, in an attempt to en
gage in sexual acts with
a 17-year-old Thomas-
vOle student who
attended Ledford.
The affidavit states
that Ring, using an
America Online
Instant Messenger
accoimt named
cheerernws@aim.
com, began a se
ries of electronic
communications
via texting to the teen
over a period of several
weeks on or about June
1,2009.
While posing as the girl.
Ring allegedly initiated
sexually explicit
conversations and
sent nude photo
graphs to the boy,
while also request
ing the teen to
do the same. Ac
cording to court
documents. Ring
began offering the
minor money in
exchange for pictares of
his genitals and any of
his friends who would be
wlllmg to send photos as
weU. During the course
of conversations, Ring
allegedly began offering
the teen money to let him
perform oral sex on the
boy at a place called the
“Glory Hole,” which is
described as a hole in the
door of a building located
on the Ledford High cam
pus. The teen’s mother
discovered some of the
messages on his phone
and contacted Thomas-
vfile Police Department
on Sept. 6,2009. Sgt. Mike
Howard handled the case
and took the teen’s phone
in an effort to meet Ring
in person.
“[Ring] offered me to go
to the Glory Hole,” How
ard said. “My main fo
cus was to try to find out
where this Glory Hole
was. 1 knew right off the
bat this was a guy not a
gal. He was posing as a fe
male. I knew in my heart
that women don’t have to
pay men for that kind of
stuff.”
Over the course of a
few weeks, Howard said
See EXPOSED, Page 6
Residents
engage in
dialogue on
city’s future
BYERINWILTGEN
Staff Writer
ThomasviUe has a tre
mendous history — every
local kindergartner and
a few beyond town limits
could outline the Chair
City’s importance in the
Civil War and one-time
fame in furniture. Anoth
er well-known fact is that
history has gone, leaving
ThomasviUe in the wake
of industries shipping
overseas not to mention a
national recession.
But the community has
come together to find a
way to move beyond that
history and push on into
the future though the
ThomasviUe Area Cham
ber of Commerce’s Com
munity Vision and Stra
tegic Plan.
Beginning with a Chair
City survey, the vision
and plan took its next
steps forward through
two community engage
ment sessions, held
Tuesday and Wednesday.
See FUTURE, Page 14
TIMES PHOTO/DAVID YEMM
INDEX
Weather '
Focus
Opinion
Obituaries
Sports
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Classifieds
Today's Weather
2
3
5
6
7
10
12
Christmas Tree Spectacular
Hundreds of residents gathered at ThomasviUe Medical Center Tuesday night to watch as more than 50
Christmas trees were lit as the hospital began its annual 'Christmas Trees of Davidson County display. Visi
tors can see the trees daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. through the new year.
Auction proceeds to support
struggling families in ThomasviUe
McLendon
Mostly sunny, 47/30
BY LISA WALL
Editor
Fairgrove FamUy Resource
Center wiU offer a perfect oppor
tunity to scratch off names from
this year’s Christmas list as its
annual auction returns to Fan-
Grove Elementary School gym
nasium Saturday at 5 p.m.
Executive Director Terri Nel
son said this year wiU bring
some of the many favorite items
for bid from years past, such as
an 8 X 10-feet storage building.
Wake Forest basketball tickets
and HiToms season passes, along
with a myriad of new choices.
“We have an enormous array
of auction items that are sure
to please any auction-goer,” Nel
son said. “There wlU be a Flora
Harris oU painting, three Bob
Timberlake paintings, a Steven
Sebastion, furniture items, flo
ral arrangements, gift baskets, a
mandolin, an autographed hock-
WANTTOGO?
What: Fairgrove Family
Resource Center auction
When; Saturday at 5 p.m.
Where: Fair Grove Elementary
School gymnasium
ey puck from Justin Fetters of
the Carolina Hurricanes, as well
as live Christmas trees.
“There are many items that
would make great Christmas
gifts,” Nelson said. “It’s possible
to find something for everyone or
every age on your list,”
Nelson said the need to raise
funds is higher than ever as resi
dents struggle during a tough
economy, many without jobs.
“This auction is critical due to
the fact that we have had a tre
mendous Increase in the number
of people who need assistance
this year,” Nelson said. “The food
pantry has served 8,130 families
this year and we will feed more
than 1,000 people with food this
month alone. This number does
not reflect the 194 bookbags we
pack for children in local schools
each week. We haVe already as
sisted 632 famUies with $54,479
in financial assistance in the
first 10 months of the year. Forty-
one percent of those famiiies are
new to the center, having never
been served before.”
As the unemployment rate re
mains high in the county. Nelson
expects the number of families
in need of assistance to continue
to increase.
“The continued high unem
ployment numbers and the fact
that those numbers don’t really
reflect those people who have
fallen off unemployment and
have yet to secure a job,” Nelson
said. “The unemployment rate
See AUCTION, Page 6
3 charged in
connection
with recent
robbery
BY ELIOT DUKE
Staff Writer
ThomasviUe Police De
partment has charged
three people in connec
tion to an armed rob
bery last
month.
Accord
ing to a
TPD press
release,
Kevin
J a r m a 1
M c L e n -
don, 21,
of WUUo-
wood Drive
in High
Point, Jeri-
el Lamond
Cockrane,
34, of Mar
ket Street
in Lexing
ton, and
Natoshla
Nichole
Washing
ton, 28,
of Gates
Circle in
Lexing-
, ton, were
charged
with rob- Washington
bery with
a dangerous weapon for
their roles in a Nov. 7 rob
bery at Pilot Food Mart,
located at 4279 Old High
way 29. McLendon also is
facing a felonious charge
of sen and deliver of a
controlled substance. Po
lice have not yet arrested
Washington.
“We received a tip on
who one of them was,” Lt.
Kimberly Sebastian said.
“We were able to bring
that one in and get some
information which led to
the identities of the other
two. We just worked the
case as hard as we could
trying to find out who
they were because they
wore bandanas on their
faces.”
On Nov. 7, two suspects
entered the store with one
armed with a taser and
the other armed with a
See ROBBERY, Page 6
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