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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A former Coughlin teacher once accused of sexual misconduct with a female student sued two Luzerne County detectives this week for allegedly omitting facts in a sworn affidavit &#8212; including the teen&#8217;s denials it ever happened.</p><p>Brian Hampel, a teacher in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District for 18 years before his firing last year, claimed county detectives Charles Balogh and Debbie Parker knew they lacked probable cause to charge the 45-year-old with corruption of minors, but did so anyway in an attempt to smear his career.</p><p>&#8220;Had the exculpatory facts been included in the affidavit of probable cause, it would have been apparent that there was an absence of probable cause,&#8221; attorneys Barry Dyller and Theron Solomon wrote in the five-count federal lawsuit. &#8220;Yet defendants chose to omit the material facts, arrest (Hampel), and destroy his career and reputation.&#8221;</p><p>Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis declined comment Wednesday.</p><p>Hampel&#8217;s criminal charges allege he kissed the victim, a Coughlin student at the time, and touched her inappropriately at house parties hosted by students sometime between 2003 and 2005. The girl was 16 and 17 at the time, prosecutors said.</p><p>A judge <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/658425/corruption-of-minors-charges-dropped-against-ex-coughlin-shop-teacher" target="_blank">dismissed the charges</a> in May after prosecutors said they didn&#8217;t believe they could satisfy the burden of proof at trial.</p><p>The lawsuit says the detectives failed to note the victim denied the allegations of improper contact set forth in the affidavit, and threatened and intimidated her to get her to state the alleged misconduct happened. The victim, however, &#8220;steadfastly refused to lie,&#8221; according to the lawsuit.</p><p>Other women whom Balogh and Parker allegedly believed had improper sexual contact with Hampel were interviewed and denied the claims, the lawsuit states. Some felt the need to hire lawyers &#8220;so they would not be charged with crimes for simply telling the truth,&#8221; according to the lawsuit.</p><p>Cooperating witnesses listed in the affidavit, meanwhile, had felonies dismissed in exchange for &#8220;false &#8216;information&#8217; defendants solicited from them,&#8221; the lawsuit states.</p><p>After Hampel&#8217;s arrest, Balogh and Parker tipped off members of the media so Hampel would be photographed in handcuffs, allegedly in hopes the publicity would bring &#8220;some witness to come forward, thus establishing probable cause that was lacking so far,&#8221; according to the suit.</p><p>Hampel was previously accused of acting as a &#8220;lookout&#8221; during disgraced former Coughlin administrator Stephen Stahl&#8217;s sexual encounters with a 16-year-old student. Hampel, whose basement classroom neighbored Stahl&#8217;s, denied the allegations when he testified at Stahl&#8217;s trial for corruption of minors.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Detectives sued by ex-Coughlin teacher once charged in student-sex case