Former elementary school principal cleared of most serious charges

New evidence leads judge to overturn two convictions of Benjamin Temple

Benjamin Allen Temple, former principal of the Rappahannock County Elementary School, has been acquitted in Hanover County Circuit Court of serious charges stemming from an incident last September at King’s Dominion.

On Sept. 1, 2019, Temple was charged with identi

ty theft to avoid arrest, falsely identifying himself to a law enforcement officer, and simulated or actual masturbation while in a restroom at the theme park. The latter charge was later reduced to indecent exposure.

At a bench trial on Nov. 20, 2019 in Hanover County General District Court north of Richmond, Temple was found guilty of the three charges.

However, new evidence presented by his attorney Cynthia Murray at a May 28 appeal in Hanover County Circuit Court has led a judge to overturn Temple’s convictions of indecent exposure and giving false information to a law enforcement officer.

The third charge was sustained. For that Temple was sentenced to 30 days in jail, but the sentence was suspended.

Murray presented body-cam and other video evidence disputing testimony given by two security guards at the time of the incident. She also demonstrated that the “law enforcement officer” who first approached Temple was in fact a King’s Dominion security guard who had no legal law enforcement jurisdiction.

Before the May trial, Temple’s family members revisited the restroom and measured distances and sightlines into and inside the restroom and presented evidence that also disputed the guards’ testimony.

The Rappahannock County School Board placed Temple on paid administrative leave when the school district first learned of the criminal charges in early September.

When a more detailed report of the circumstances surrounding the charges — first reported by this newspaper — became public, the school board voted to place him on unpaid leave.

Temple hopes with his acquittal he will be able to work again.

In a phone call last Friday, Temple said that he has been applying for jobs, but with the original charges on the record, job hunting has been difficult.

Murray did not return a request to comment.