A former high school band director and his wife, a former assistant commonwealth’s attorney, were arraigned in Christian Circuit Court Wednesday morning.
Seth Peveler is charged with four counts of third-degree rape, four counts of third-degree sodomy, and second-degree unlawful transaction with a minor. Peveler was indicted on the rape charges after he was accused of having sexual relations with a student under the age of 18 while he was acting in his official capacity as the Hopkinsville High School Band director. The sodomy charges accuse Peveler of having deviate sexual activity with a student or students on four occasions. The unlawful transaction with a minor charge is in connection to Peveler allegedly providing marijuana to a minor.
Peveler’s wife, Hannah, was indicted on three counts of tampering with a witness after she allegedly attempted to induce witnesses to not testify against her husband.
Seth Peveler’s defense attorney Sands Chewning entered a not guilty plea at the arraignment. Judge John Atkins continued the case until a special judge is appointed.
In the case against Hannah Peveler, her attorney also entered a not guilty plea and Judge Atkins set a pretrial conference for the same day as her husband’s appearance on September 4 at 8:30, pending a special judge has been appointed.
The charges against Seth Peveler were lodged in May after he allegedly allowed a student to smoke marijuana and then had sexual intercourse with the student. More charges were lodged against Peveler after other students came forward and shared their stories with investigators. Peveler resigned as band director in early May and Mrs. Peveler resigned from her position last month.
