“I used to be a baby. I wasn’t a person. I used to be a boy,” says the now 18-year-old, after his former musical theater director was arrested and accused of “a protracted and inappropriate relationship” with the teenager.
An 18-year-old South Carolina teenager who says he was 14 when his instructor began sexually assaulting him is talking out.
As he is publicly recognized himself in interviews with reporters to lift consciousness, TooFab is figuring out the teenager right here as properly. Final week, Grant Strickland, 18, spoke with press following a bond listening to for Nicole Ballew Collaham, a 33-year-old instructor dealing with a number of costs from two totally different jurisdictions.
In response to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Workplace, she was arrested after “a protracted and inappropriate relationship” with the teenager, following an investigation launched again in Could. Per authorities, the investigation “uncovered proof that the misconduct started in 2021 and continued for not less than two years with the then teenage boy.”
The Sheriff charged her with Prison Sexual Conduct with a Minor and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. The Greenville Police Division additionally, individually, charged her with Prison Sexual Conduct with a Minor and Illegal Conduct In direction of a Youngster.
“I am right here to combat and I am not going to again down,” Strickland stated to WYFF. “I feel extra consciousness must be dropped at issues like this and simply because I am a person does not imply it ought to be shunned away. I used to be a baby. I wasn’t a person. I used to be a boy.”
In response to the teenager’s mom, Allison Strickland, her son had a love of theater and met Callaham when she was working as a director of musical theater on a manufacturing of Legally Blonde on the Mission Problem Playhouse. Callaham additionally reportedly labored as a kindergarten instructor at Homeland Park Major College from 2017 till resigning on Could 21, 2025; Strickland was not one in every of her college students there.
“Callaham, an Anderson County faculty instructor on the time, engaged in grooming habits towards the boy throughout his early teenage years,” stated the Anderson County Sheriff. “The connection intensified as she reportedly signed the coed out of college, transported him to practices, and served as a supervisor for after-school actions.”
“These repeated interactions led to a protracted sample of abuse, which was corroborated by search warrants and ongoing cooperation with the sufferer’s household,” the Sheriff’s assertion continued. “In response to investigators, the sufferer made the choice to return ahead after turning 18, following time spent processing the expertise and trauma related to the abuse.”
Oakland County Jail
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Callaham surrendered herself to authorities on Thursday morning; she has since posted $40,000 bond and left jail in Anderson County, earlier than she was taken to Greenville County for a separate bond listening to there this morning.
Per Court docket TV, an announcement from the sufferer — who stated he was “lonely and depressed” when he first met Callaham — was learn by an advocate at Monday’s listening to.
“She noticed I used to be susceptible and used that to her benefit,” learn the letter, which additionally accuses Callaham of “calling him slurs and suggesting he kill himself,” per Court docket TV. “What began as consideration throughout a college play shortly changed into manipulation, emotional abuse and trauma that I by no means ought to have needed to carry.”
Whereas prosecutors requested for Callaham to be held with out bail, her attorneys confirmed she’s eight to 9 weeks pregnant and is due for prenatal appointments. She was granted bond and, as a part of the circumstances, Callaham should keep on home arrest at residence along with her fiancé and may haven’t any contact with the sufferer.
Fb/Cape Could County Correctional Middle
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“It is made me come to understand that I needed to develop up very, very quick and get one a complete different maturity stage I wasn’t prepared for,” Strickland advised press final week, saying coming ahead with the allegations has felt “like a weight lifted off of me.”
He advised reporters he “had forgotten” a lot of the particulars of what allegedly occurred, saying he began to recollect extra after he had “lastly spoken up about it.”
“I might like to carry extra consciousness to point out this occurs and it occurs quite a bit. It isn’t simply to girls, it is males too,” he continued. “It occurs to youngsters and it is gotta cease. I might by no means need somebody to undergo what I went by way of as a result of I do not suppose most individuals can be sturdy sufficient to outlive it, as a result of I nearly did not.”
He additionally urged others to not “preserve quiet due to another person, or if another person tells you to,” including, “Shield your peace, as a result of in the long run, that is what’s going to matter.”
In Anderson County Court docket, Callaham’s lawyer reportedly stated they “stay up for a day in courtroom.”
The Clemson Metropolis Police Division can also be allegedly investigating the case.
Christina and Michael Formella, Fb/DuPage County State’s Legal professional Workplace
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