Published April 22, 2004, in issue #0316 of The Hook

BY LISA PROVENCE

Gregory Allen Moyer was a respected teacher at one of Mexico's most prestigious colleges. He told his students to scan the Internet to find a book he'd written. They did-- and discovered he was un profesor with a past.

Moyer, 49, has been on the lam since May 5, 2001-- just days before he was to appear in court after losing his appeal of a three-and-a-half year sentence for 14 counts of taking indecent liberties with minors at Fork Union Military Academy.

In August 2001, he segued his Virginia teaching skills into a position at the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Campus in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

According to a spokesperson, Moyer was a well-respected educator who'd gathered no complaints about inappropriate behavior-- such as the nude spankings he performed on cadets at FUMA.

In Mexico, Moyer taught under his real name, and until April 13, was listed as a faculty member on the Instituto's website. The news that a well-regarded science teacher was a wanted sex offender has become a scandal in Aguascalientes and national news in Mexico.

"We are shocked," says school spokesman Demetrio Morales, who says Moyer resigned and left the school March 31.

According to several students who contacted the Hook, the secret unraveled after Moyer suggested that students look up a book he'd written called Discovering the Spirit.

Students Googled his name and found information, including articles from the Hook, about his lurid past at FUMA. Moyer was also listed on the January 10, 2004, episode of America's Most Wanted, and students called the show's tip line and posted the information all over the school.

"Consternated by the information, some parents went [to] the director of the university and asked him to investigate," says Illiana De Anda, who works for the Instituto de Educaci

n de Aguascalientes, similar to our state board of education. She emailed a copy of the August 1, 2002, Hook article, "FUMA spanker still loose: AWOL over indecent liberties" to Virginia State Police on April 14.

"I really liked this professor," says one of Moyer's former Mexican students, who asks to remain anonymous. The student says Moyer was chosen best teacher by his class. "He was one of the best I had in my whole high school."

(The student also explains that in Mexico, high school correlates with American grades 12, 13, and 14, and that the Instituto campus offers both high school and university courses.)

"The principals at my campus have got into some trouble because they hired Gregory without noticing his criminal record," adds the student.

School spokesman Morales says the school performs criminal background checks-- but only with Mexican records. He adds that the school did check with Mexican immigration authorities.

According to De Anda, Moyer entered Mexico legally as a tourist in 2001, and Mexican immigration wants to know why they were never informed by the United States of his fugitive status. Many are also wondering how convicted felon Moyer could legally leave the U.S.

Sergeant Ken Brooks of the Virginia State Police has a theory. "As many Mexicans as get into the U.S.," says Brooks, "I guess he could use the same route."

When asked about Moyer on April 15, Brooks said, "We hadn't heard a thing other than a citizen sending an email."

Moyer's escapades spanking Fork Union Military Academy cadets date back to the early '90s. Trial testimony indicated that he took photographs and made meticulous notes in his diary. By February 1994, Moyer was administering the whacks to a naked cadet, and soon the cadet was spanking a naked Moyer. Shaving cream and rolled up newspapers were part of the fun.

After a FUMA official discovered nude photos of cadets in Moyer's on-campus apartment, he was arrested in March 1997 and later convicted of taking indecent liberties with two cadets. Police suspect others were involved.

The parents of one of the boys posted a $50,000 bond for Moyer and let him live with the family while his case was appealed. That money was forfeited when Moyer failed to appear for a May 10, 2001, sentencing hearing.

"I just know what I read in the paper today," says the boy's father in Richmond. "We have not heard hide nor hair from him since he left."

Because the cadet was a minor at the time of the nude spankings, the Hook is not identifying his father. "I thought this was over," he says. "We have no plans to get back in touch."

Mexican police captured Moyer around midnight April 16 at a hotel in Mexico City. He was returned to the United States last weekend, and at press time was awaiting extradition from Texas, according to Capt. Bess Skrobanski in the Fluvanna Sheriff's Office.

Once he's returned to Virginia, Moyer faces a failure to appear charge and a new court date on his 14 felony counts of taking indecent liberties.

Fluvanna Commonwealth's Attorney Jeffrey Haislip is considering asking the judge to impose the suspended portion of Moyer's 28-year-sentence. "He fled and he was working around people he wasn't supposed to be around," Haislip notes.

Moyer could get another six months for his failure to appear in court. But what about his failure to appear aware of what's on the Internet?

"Over the years," says Haislip, "I've Googled him occasionally, and I've come across the Hook's articles."

Fugitive spanker Gregory A. Moyer makes the national news in Mexico, where he's taught school since fleeing the U.S. in 2001.
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