A Wake County Public Schools teacher has been charged with multiple counts of taking indecent liberties with children that involve students at the school he taught at.

Peter Cunningham Moody

Peter Cunningham Moody, age 39, of  Knightdale, is charged with four felony counts of taking indecent liberties with children. The charges are a Class F felony carrying a 10-41 month sentence.

Moody is being held at the Wake County jail under a $150,000 bond. His bond was originally set for $200,000 but was lowered at his first court appearance on Tuesday, Oct 16. Moody has also been ordered not to have any contact with the victims.

The alleged incidents involve two underage children who were students at Beaverdam Elementary in the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). The incidents occurred between August 2018 through June 2019 while Moody was listed as a 5th-grade teacher.

Moody, who was hired by WCPSS in August 2017, resigned from his position at the school on August 13, just prior to the start of the 2019-2020 school year.  Beaverdam is a relatively new school in Wake County that held it’s ribbon-cutting ceremony just two years ago on August 17, 2017.

Prosecutors said during Moody’s first court appearance that the victims said Moody would rub his genitals on the back of them and would say that when they turned 18, he was going to “hook up” with them.

According to reports, WCPSS officials said the district was informed of the allegations against Moody in August. It is not clear how they were informed. The district contacted law enforcement and began an internal investigation into the matter.

It appears that maybe the school was the last to know given the content of the letter below, which was sent to parents by Beaverdam Elementary School’s principal.

Beaverdam Elementary School parents, this is Principal Evans.

Because we want to keep you informed, I want to share information about an incident involving one of our former teachers.

Yesterday, the district was notified by the Raleigh Police Department that a former fifth-grade teacher at our school, Peter Moody, had been arrested on four counts of indecent liberties with a child in connection with incidents that occurred at Beaverdam Elementary School.

I can share with you that in August the district learned of the allegations of inappropriate conduct. The district immediately contacted the Raleigh Police Department and WCPSS Security. An investigation by WCPSS Human Resources began immediately, and Mr. Moody resigned on August 13, before students returned for the 2019-20 school year.

This is disheartening news for the Beaverdam community. I understand that students and families will experience a wide range of emotions. The trust you place in your teachers is sacred, and we do not and will not tolerate any violation of that trust.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. While I obviously have legal limits on what I can say about any employee who is under criminal investigation, I will share any information that I am allowed.

It is unclear at this point whether or not the students currently involved were in any of Moody’s classes.

According to the prosecutors, teachers at the school told them that “it was uncharacteristic that this defendant would come and take the children out of sort of the elective classes like music and art and tell them that he needed to grade papers.”

Moody holds a current NC teaching license in the area of “Elementary Education (K-6).”

During Moody’s first court appearance, Moody’s attorney claimed that Moody lost his job due to an unrelated incident, denies the allegations against him and that he has no previous criminal history.

This website located a 2011 speeding charge for Moody that happened on Charles Blvd, in Greenville, NC.