Newport District Settles Suit By 11th Sex-Abuse Victim

An 11th sexual-abuse victim of former music teacher Orlando Nickelson has won a settlement from the Newport School District.

The victim’s attorneys, Rick Fancher and Dennis Scott, declined to discuss the settlement, which must be approved by a Pend Oreille County Superior Court judge.

The attorneys, however, said the agreement is consistent with 10 previous settlements, totaling almost $1 million.

Nickelson’s attorney, Gene Annis, said he doesn’t know the amount of the settlement because Nickelson isn’t paying any of it. “It got settled without any input from me,” Annis said.

School district attorney Jerry Leveque was not available for comment.

Attorneys said the settlement on behalf of Shannon Larson, 21, formerly Shannon Johnson, should be the last stemming from Nickelson’s misconduct.

Nickelson, 63, pleaded guilty in 1988 to attempted indecent liberties. He lost his teaching certificate and spent 50 days in jail.

He had been with the school district for 19 years when he was fired in June 1987 for violating a 1984 warning to have no physical contact with students. The firing came days after a 12-year-old girl at Sadie Halstead Elementary reported that Nickelson placed his arm around her and reached inside her shirt to touch her chest.

Larson was in the same music class and told police that “Mr. Nick” repeatedly fondled her chest and buttocks.

Parents complained at the time that Nickelson was transferred to the grade school six years earlier because of complaints by Newport High School girls and their parents.

, DataTimes