Ex-headmaster rejects deal, child porn trial set

WILMINGTON — Former Tower Hill School Headmaster Christopher Wheeler, accused of dealing in child pornography, rejected a plea bargain Monday and his trial will move forward with jury selection next week.

Wheeler, 54, is accused of having more than 1,400 images and videos of child pornography on his computer at the mansion owned by the elite $26,000-a-year school on West 17th Street in affluent west Wilmington.

Investigators found the kiddie porn cache last October while searching his home, office, airplane and SUV looking for evidence that he had tried to intimidate at least three men he allegedly sexually abused decades ago, the search warrant said. One of the alleged victims was a son he adopted from Russia, the warrant said.

Wheeler, who has not been charged with sexually abusing anyone, faces 25 counts of dealing in child pornography that each carry a minimum of two years in prison, or a 50-year minimum sentence if convicted of all counts.

He rejected prosecutors' offer to cap their prison time recommendation at 15 years if Wheeler admitted to two counts of dealing in child pornography, said Jason Miller, spokesman for Attorney General Beau Biden.

Wheeler's lawyer, Thomas Foley, had no comment.

The offer was made before the final case review for Wheeler. The final review is when prosecutors often make their best and final offer of reduced charges to a defendant before trial.

Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Eric Davis turned down a motion by Wheeler to throw out the child porn found during the search. After the October 2013 search, school officials forced out Wheeler, who was in his ninth year as headmaster with total annual compensation surpassing $300,000.

Foley had alleged that the warrant was the result of an improper police "fishing expedition."

Davis found that police had provided sufficient information to a judge to obtain a search warrant and did not improperly withhold details in the application.

Police and prosecutors obtained the warrant as part of an investigation into alleged witness tampering and intimidation against three men, Wheeler's adopted son and two men whose family let Wheeler stay at their home in the 1980s after he attended Westttown Friends School near West Chester, Pennsylvania, court records showed.

All told police last year that Wheeler sexually abused them when they were minors.

Contact Sean O'Sullivan at (302) 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @SeanGOSullivan. Contact senior reporter Cris Barrish at (302) 324-2785, cbarrish@delawareonline.com, on Facebook or Twitter @crisbarrish.