Former Highlands School District teacher Sean Dicer can stay at his Brackenridge home while awaiting trial on charges he sexually assaulted former students.
Dicer has been in Allegheny County Jail since Dec. 4, when county police arrested him on charges that include involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, unlawful contact with a minor and sexual extortion.
The 53-year-old was scheduled for formal arraignment Friday but instead participated in a hearing downtown Wednesday that resulted in county Judge Edward Borkowski remanding Dicer to house arrest.
“He will have windows (of time) that he can leave the house with permission from a probation officer,” said Duke George, Dicer’s attorney.
“The most important thing is that he’s out.”
Dicer is accused by two former students of abusing them four years ago. The students were 11 and 12 when the alleged assaults occurred, according to a criminal complaint.
Police said the incidents happened in the summer of 2021.
Dicer resigned from Highlands in 2022 after nearly 20 years.
At a preliminary hearing in December before District Judge Michael J. Girardi in Harmar, George said he has several witnesses lined up who will speak to Dicer’s character.
Dicer’s release from jail will take a few days, George said.
“He’ll be allowed time to see me, his doctor, those kinds of things,” George said. “It’s good that he’ll be home with his family.”
Dicer faces similar charges in a separate case filed Jan. 13 by Allegheny County Police. In that case, a 28-year-old Highlands graduate accused Dicer of indecent assault in 2007, when the man was a student at Fairmount Elementary School.
Those charges include indecent assault, child endangerment, unlawful contact with a minor and child corruption. Dicer is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the latest charges Feb. 18 at Girardi’s office.
