Sodomy trial begins for former band director

A Whitley Circuit Court Jury didn’t hear a former Corbin and Whitesburg band director admit to sodomizing a 14-year-old male band student while on trips to a band competition in Williamsburg in 2002 and 2003.
However, the 9-woman, four-man jury did get to hear a taped telephone conversation between the victim’s mother and Thomas Ray Pike II where he can be heard telling her, “I don’t think I’m a pedophile. I think I’m gay.”
Testimony began Tuesday afternoon, and jurors are expected to decide Wednesday whether Pike, 43, is guilty of six counts of third-degree sodomy. If convicted on all counts, jurors could sentence Pike to a maximum of 30 years in prison.
Pike was working in Letcher County at a high school in Whitesburg when the allegations occurred. He had previously served as Corbin High School band director for one year. In addition he had worked at Corbin Middle School for six years prior to that.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble told the jury in his opening statement Tuesday afternoon that Pike allegedly sodomized the teenager three times while in Williamsburg for an annual all-star band competition held at Cumberland College in November 2002.
Trimble said Pike sodomized the boy three other times while in Williamsburg for the band competition the following year when the boy was 15 years old.
Pike’s lawyer, Daniel Dotson, reserved his opening statement Tuesday until after the prosecution finishes its case, which is expected to be sometime Wednesday.
The victim’s mother was the first witness to take the stand Tuesday afternoon and testified that she and Pike began dating in November 2004.
She testified that she became suspicious of the relationship between her son and Pike enough to place a tap on her home telephone to record telephone conversations between the two.
In one taped conversation played for the jury, Pike can be heard telling the teenager, who is 25 years younger than he is, that he wished he had known the teenager would be home alone.
In another part of a telephone conversation between Pike and the victim, jurors heard an exchange between the two that went, “I love you. I love you too. I miss you terribly.”
In his opening statement, Trimble told jurors that during the trial they would be hearing another taped conversation where Pike can be heard telling the boy to take his clothes off, get in bed, and be naked when Pike got to the home.
The victim’s mother testified that after her son was confronted about his relationship with Pike, she went to Letcher County authorities, who helped her tape a telephone conversation between herself and Pike.
During the telephone conversation, which was taped without Pike’s knowledge, he can be heard denying that he ever touched the teenager.
Several portions of the taped conversation were difficult to hear, but Pike can be heard telling the victim’s mother, “I’ll try to get help. I’ve tried the Ridge. I’ll try to get help.”
Jurors also heard Pike telling the victim’s mother during the taped conversation that he would never come back to Letcher County, and that she and the teenager were safe.
“I’m not going to teach any more. I’m not going to be around kids,” Pike told her during the taped conversation.
The victim is expected to take the stand and testify against Pike during the trial.
Trimble said that six counts of unlawful transaction with a minor against Pike have been dismissed because the jury wouldn’t be able to convict him of that and sodomy.
Pike is also facing trial on a 60-count indictment in Letcher County relating to similar allegations made by the same victim there, officials said during prior court hearings.
(Editor’s Note: The News Journal doesn’t publish the names of victims of sexual assaults, and the name of the victim’s mother wasn’t published because of this.)