SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla.,None — A Seminole County dance instructor is accused of sexually battering one of his former students. Dawhone Perry is out on bond, but investigators believe he developed a three-year relationship with a Brevard County teen he used to teach.
Other business owners said the studio is usually hopping every afternoon, but on Friday, when parents and dancers showed up, someone walked out the doors and told them it was closed.
Perry's reputation in Central Florida dance is stellar.
"They kind of bragged he had trained Brittany Spears in the early days," nearby business owner David Wright told Eyewitness News.
Wright said Perry's New Dimensions Dance Academy (see map) was always hopping; he seemed like a nice guy. But Monday night, the place was empty.
Perry is facing rape charges. He is accused of taking advantage of one of his young students when he operated the studio in Titusville.
According to court documents, the girl, who is now an adult, admitted she had a crush on Perry, but now claims, in 2005, he "took her virginity" when she was just 15 years old while her mother was in New York. Perry was supposed to be taking care of her. She told investigators she felt "confused and cried after the event."
But it didn't end, she told investigators, and estimates they had sex between 800 and 900 times before she turned 18. Last week, Brevard County sheriff's investigators recorded a conversation between Perry and the now former student. He admitted the underage sex and said "he was sorry for what he did."
But it's a crime that has people around wondering how someone so many people trust with their children could take advantage of a child.
Perry bonded out of jail, but Eyewitness News was told no one has seen him around.
WFTV
