Brian Bizzell, a band teacher with the Buckeye Unified School District, was in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning where he pleaded not guilty to charges that he had a sexual relationship with one of his underage students -- prior to his arrest, Bizzell tried to arrange a "quickie" with the girl.
According to court documents obtained by New Times, the
relationship between Bizzell and the girl was unearthed when another
student found the girl's cell phone at the school. In an attempt to
identify the owner of the phone, the classmate looked at some old
messages and noticed sexually charged text messages from someone named
"Brian."
The student grew concerned when she was able to identify
the owner of the phone, who is one of her classmates, and noticed that
the screen saver on the phone was a picture of Bizzell.
The girl
turned the phone over to authorities, who contacted the owner of the
phone's parents -- who, as you might imagine, weren't thrilled to find
out their daughter was having sex with one of her teachers.
The girl's father voluntarily retrieved his 17-year-old daughter's
laptop and allowed police to look through old Skype conversations she'd
had with Bizzell, which included talk about oral sex and masturbation.
The girl's parents told police their daughter knows Bizzell well, and had even been to his apartment.
Police then interviewed the alleged victim, who admitted to having sex
with Bizzell. She told detectives she first met him when she was 13, and
he became her band teacher when she was 14.
The first time there was any sexual contact, the girl told police, was
in October of this year, when she was 17, at a band function in
Avondale. According to the girl, the two kissed.
The sexual relationship escalated in recent months -- in November, the
girl says she and Bizzell performed oral sex on each other in a sound
booth in the band room at the high school. The two had actual
intercourse earlier this month, again in the band room at the high
school.
Following his arrest, Bizzell admitted to having sex with the girl, and
knowing she was underage. Then he had to call his wife (yikes!).
During the conversation with his wife, Bizzell suggested that as soon as
he was released from police custody, the two should pack up all their
belongings and skip town. He later clarified the comments during his
initial court appearance, telling court officials he meant he wanted to
leave town after the case was resolved.
Bizzell faces five counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of luring a minor for sexual exploitation.
