Charges Dismissed Against Former Band Director

LONGVIEW – Charges against a former White Oak high school band director have been dropped. Jacovia Cartwright had been facing charges of indecency with a child/sexual contact. In 2016, White Oak officers found what they said were inappropriate pictures of children on his phone. One of the students in the pictures says Cartwright touched her inappropriately during a band trip. Messages retrieved from his Facebook messenger show messages from the student saying she “kind of lied” to the police. In her motion to dismiss the case, prosecutor Stacey Brownlee said they were unable to approve the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The Longview News Journal reports, as part of the dismissal, Cartwright permanently and voluntarily surrendered his state educator’s certification.