New Twist in ‘Freak’ Teacher’s Alleged Teen Sex Scandal

Brittany Fortonberry, the Indiana. teacher facing dozens of child sexual. abuse charges, now has a bank suing her. over unpaid credit card bills. But that. is nothing compared to the bombshell. allegations against both her and her. husband Nicholas Foronberry, who's. separately charged in this case. We are. going to dig into her shocking criminal. story. Talk to former child sex crimes. prosecutor Marian Bracha about bombshell. legal questions. Can her husband be. forced to testify against her? What. happens to spousal privilege when the.

crimes involve children? Those answers. may surprise you. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. By now, the name Brittney Foronberry is. very likely familiar to you, right? The. former Indiana substitute teacher. accused of sexually abusing minors while. wearing masks from the Scream movies, already facing a staggering 41 felony. charges. Foronberry is now dealing with. another legal issue. A bank is suing her.

over thousands of dollars in unpaid. credit card debt. According to court. records that were obtained by law and. crime, Synchry Bank filed a lawsuit. against Fortonberry, claiming she failed. to pay more than $2,000 in charges that. were acred since opening a credit card. account in 2021. The bank alleges that. Foronberry defaulted on the payments and. ignored repeated attempts to collect the. debt. And given that Fortonberry has. been behind bars since February, unable. to postpone, her mounting financial. troubles may not come as a surprise. But.

the civil case is so minor compared to. the serious criminal allegations that. she is facing. As we've previously. reported, Foronberry is accused of. committing some of the most disturbing. crimes imaginable for someone in a. teaching role. Investigators say she. sexually abused multiple underage. students and encouraged them to. participate in group sex acts again. while wearing this horror themed masks, including ones from the Scream. franchise. And the case first came to. light in August of 2024 when two.

students reported that Fortonberry had. sent them explicit content over. Snapchat, including nude images and. videos involving sex toys. She resigned. from her position at the time at Eminent. School shortly afterward on August 23rd, but in November, she was formally. charged with two counts of disseminating. harmful material to minors and two. counts of online harassment. But those. charges were just the beginning because. by December, more alleged victims began. to come forward. In one particularly. alarming case, the grandmother of a.

14-year-old boy told prosecutors that. her grandson said Fort Mary gave him. psychedelic mushrooms and performed sex. acts with him. The teen also claimed. there were more victims that were. involved. And trust me, we have only. scratched the surface of this because. we're going to get into just how more. extensive the allegations against. Britney Foronberry became. And one of. the reasons that we can do this to. really dive into these cases is because. of the amazing support that we get from. our sponsors like Upside. Now, Upside is. great. It is a free app that gets you.

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cents back on every gallon on your first. tank of gas. Now, we got to talk about. this latest legal headache. A civil. lawsuit filed by Synchry Bank. According. to a complaint that was filed in. Indiana's Morgan County Superior Court. on July 23rd, the bank alleges that. Fortonberry opened a charge account on. November 19th, 2021 and later defaulted. by failing to make even the minimum of. payments. An affidavit from a bank. employee claims the last payment made on. the account was on December 1st, 2023. So, that's nearly a year before her.

arrest in the criminal case that. followed. The affidavit goes on to state. that as of July 8th, 2024, the account. was officially charged off, meaning the. bank had written off the debt as. unlikely to be repaid. So what is. Synchry Bank suing her for? Well, in. short, thousands of dollars, according. to the filing, after receiving all. payments, debits, credits, and set offs, there is now due and owing from. defendants to plaintif the sum of. $2,125.50. Due demand has been made on the.

defendants to pay this amount and the. defendants have failed to do so by. reason of the foregoing. Plainif is. entitled to judgment against defendants. for breach of contract in the sum of. $2,125.50. plus court costs. Wherefore pliff. requests judgment for breach of contract. in the sum of $2,125.50. plus court costs. In other words, this. is just one more legal problem adding to. an already very long list. And yes, we'll get into how her criminal case. ballooned to 41 charges. But first, I. got to bring on a special guest and.

friend of the show, Marian Bracha, practice professor of law, director, LLM. and trial advocacy program and former. child sex abuse excuse. and sex crimes prosecutor. Thank you so. much for coming on. It's great to see. you. >> Thanks, Stephie. Great to see you as. always. >> Okay, so first question. Does. Foronberry's pre-trial detention, does. that affect her ability to defend. herself in a civil suit like the one. from this bank? sort of uh obviously she can't be.

physically present at any civil. proceeding unless of course the. plaintiff would request a bringdown. order request a witch for her release to. be present um at the civil case. But. really the question is if she's in. custody and unable to pay her own bond, she becomes essentially judgment proof. from the $2,000 plus dollars that are. owing on her credit card debt. So, this. does seem like something of a uh more of. an administrative proceeding to to just.

have locked in for the records that this. debt is owing, but I don't see. realistically how it can be adjudicated. or paid by the defendant by Britney. Forberry. >> By the way, isn't the cost of a lawsuit. going to be more than what they're. recovering? >> It it certainly could be. Yes. Just from. the filing fees and and also, as you. mentioned, the bank has already written. this off as a loss. So again, I I think. it's just in in in an effort to go. through the procedural steps to recover. what is owed to the bank, but I don't. think realistically it is real high on.

Foronberry's priority list. >> Yeah. And by the way, if she's. ultimately convicted and sentenced of. the crimes that she's facing, how does. criminal restitution and civil. penalties, how is that prioritized, especially when I don't Yeah. financial. recovery is quite limited, >> right? So, it really depends by state. Uh, and and the victim compensation fund. by state would dictate how um certain. court costs and payments are allotted. and and where they are credited, to what.

count they are credited first. Um, so it. it would really depend. I would venture. in uh in Indiana, and admittedly I'm no. expert on Indiana um restitution law, but um I I would venture that the victim. compensation or the criminal restitution. would take priority if there is in fact. criminal restitution ordered. Um and. then it's possible that the uh civil. claim would go to third party. collections and and might just go into. her um long-standing debt as as a.

private citizen. I assumed you were an. expert on every kind of law. This is. this is what I didn't realize. I that's. what I've always assumed. I think we all. assumed that. >> Yeah. Um this is feels like a stretch, but I was wondering it. >> If this civil suit, these allegations, could that any way be used in her. criminal case? Could the prosec could it. help the prosecution indirectly? I I'm. not sure. you know, by uncovering. spending habits or communications, does. it corroborate grooming behaviors, the.

timeline of abuse? I mean, I guess if. funds were used maybe to facilitate this. alleged abuse, right? That could be a. way. >> I I think maybe uh I I think the the the. name of the game for any uh litigation. strategy is creativity and and. persuasive storytelling. Um, there are. certainly rules of evidence and and you. know that that's my favorite topic, but. there are certainly rules of evidence. that allow for other acts to be shown or. or or be admitted for the consideration.

of the factfinder so that um it can. complete the telling of the story or the. allegations that that the moving party. or in this case the prosecution is. bringing. Um, I tend to think it sounds. a little attenuated. It sounds a little. um disperate and distinct from the facts. that are alleged in in the sex crime. case. But again, if there is some. connection to uh how the defendant was. using her bank or or the funds from this. from that credit card account in order.

to facilitate the abuse that she. allegedly perpetrated. Perhaps there is. some connection there, but I think that. that would likely be a motion that the. prosecution would have to bring. pre-trial um to allow the trial judge to. consider it and consider the. admissibility of that evidence before. they ever even open to a jury. >> By the way, talking because you love. evidence so much, and we're going to get. into this, this case, do you feel is. going to be a lot about establishing a. pattern? Is it going to be establishing. a motive, an MO? I mean, do you think.

that the amount of evidence that's going. to be permitted in this kind of case. will be substantial for the prosecution? >> So, I I think, you know, as we've talked. in in other cases where there are. multiple complaintants or multiple. alleged victims, I think that it could. go either way. And and a a caution for. the prosecution would be that perhaps. these uh complaintants, these alleged. victims know each other. Perhaps their. classmates, perhaps their schoolmates, perhaps they have quote unquote compared. stories. Perhaps those conversations.

have influenced the versions or the. accounts of the abuse or the. interactions that each alleged victim. has reported to police. So, those are. all defense considerations to say, you. know, how uh similar are these accounts. and are they similar enough where it has. the ring of perhaps fabrication? And I'm. not saying that the complainant should. not be believed and and that they. shouldn't be granted um an open mind of.

any factfinder to listen to their. testimony. Um but I think that that that. is the cautionary tale for any. prosecutor in a case like this is is to. make sure um that each account has the. ring of truth and doesn't seem like it's. been um affected or influenced by the. other accounts that are being reported. simultaneously. Uh I think however a. strength for the prosecution case is. that there is numerosity. There are uh. so many different complaintants. reporting very similar conduct, similar.

contact with this defendant um even when. the other alleged victims weren't. present or weren't even um known to the. others. And so that is I think a. strength. Long story short, it could go. either way, but it really depends on how. the evidence is presented by the. attorney. >> Now let's talk about that. I want to. revisit some of the disturbing. allegations, I should say, because if. the original allegations against Britney. Foronberry were alarming, I will tell. you what followed was even worse. The. former Indiana substitute teacher was. first thrust into the spotlight in.

November of 2024, and that is when two. students came forward with allegations. of inappropriate contact. As the. investigation deepened, so did the. severity of the accusations. Prosecutors. have since filed dozens of additional. felony charges, including incest, painting an increasingly horrifying. picture of Fortonberry's alleged. conduct, and we have reviewed all of the. available probable cause affidavit, while some details are just way too. graphic to share in full. The emerging. narrative reveals a deeply disturbing.

alleged pattern of predatory behavior. and calculated exploitation of minors. All while Fortonberry was entrusted with. a position of authority. And her initial. charges, two counts of disseminating. matter harmful to minors, two counts of. electronic harassment. They stem from. claims that she sent explicit photos and. videos to underage boys via Snapchat and. Instagram. According to the complaints, some of that content included nude. selfies, footage involving sex toys, and. videos filmed inside her home, which.

allegedly featured a stripper pole. But. the case quickly spiraled far beyond. those initial charges. Why? Because as. more alleged victims step forward, court. documents revealed increasingly. grotesque claims. Multiple minors. accused Fortonberry of engaging in sex. acts with them, sometimes during these. group encounters, as I mentioned, wearing masks, the Scream franchise. Now, to understand the scope of these. accusations, it is important to revisit. how this all began. Because according to. a police report from November 2024, one. teenage boy said that Foronberry.

initially followed him on Instagram, started with casual, seemingly innocent. messages. Situation quickly escalated. That police report reads, quote, alleged. minor victim said that she was showing. him a picture of something and thought. it was her home gym. Alleged minor. victim said that she then sits her phone. down, making it a point so he could see. it. and her photo gallery was open with. photos of her completely naked. On. another occasion, alleged minor victim. said that she sent him a picture of her. room and in the picture was a stripper. poll. Alleged minor victim talked about.

her telling him that after she left. Martinsville that she was a stripper, how she had an Only Fans page and did. exclusive stuff on her Snapchat stories. By December, the case took an even. darker turn. A grandmother contacted. authorities reporting that her. 14-year-old grandson was involved in an. inappropriate relationship with. Fortonberry. And the boy told. investigators that he feared Fortonberry. would continue to abuse more children if. she wasn't stopped. A police report from. February reads, "Ale alleged victim said. he's there because he doesn't want.

Britney Foronberry to molest more kids. Alleged victim said that some of the. victims are considering talking about. what happened and there's others that. don't want to talk about it." Now, as. detectives followed up on his claims, a. wave of new disclosures followed. Ultimately, five more minors came. forward. each with their own harrowing. account of alleged abuse, including. claims that Fortonberry would masturbate. to students school portraits, give the. teens psychedelic mushrooms before. sexual encounters. And maybe the most. disturbing account involved a night in.

which Foronberry allegedly took a. teenage boy shopping, spent more than. $600 on clothes, and then invited him. and his friends back to her home. And. there, the victim claimed she eventually. turned on a movie and proposed a group. sex act on one condition. According to. an affidavit from March, it reads, "Alleged victims said that Britney. turned on a movie and about 30 minutes. into the movie, Britney asked one of his. friends if they wanted to gang bang her. Alleged victims said that Britney had. one condition for them to have the gang. bang with her, and that was that they.

had to wear a scream mask." But the. allegations didn't end with Britney. Foronberry because court documents. suggest her husband, Nicholas. Foronberry, may have known about the. abuse and in some cases allegedly. threatened victims to keep them quiet. The March affidavit reads, "Alleged. victim said Britney told him that if. anyone found out that Nick would. slaughter him in front of his family.". Nicholas Foronberry filed for divorce, by the way, on February 25th. It raises. questions about whether the criminal. investigation influenced that decision, but shortly after March 6th, he too was.

arrested and charged with intimidation. and failure to report a crime. Now, professor, when Nicholas Foronberry, now. charged separately, but potentially. possessing knowledge of the abuse, how. should we be thinking about spousal. privilege? The rules kind of complicate. the case against Britney. Right. >> Right. So, there is a difference between. spousal privilege and marital. communications. So spousal privilege. means that um as a married person, I can. if I have been subpoenaed to testify,

god forbid, against my husband, against. my spouse, um that uh that privilege. belongs to me as the witness to say no, I choose not to testify against my. husband or my spouse. However, if I. said, you know what, I feel perfectly. comfortable testifying against my. husband, that would be my prerogative. that would be within my purview to. either accept the subpoena and present. myself to testify or to absent myself. and and assert my privilege and say no, I'm not testifying against my spouse. However, even if I did present myself.

and testify against my spouse, what is. protected and what the defense um can. can assert and and prevent the. factfinder from hearing are. communications that occurred within the. marriage that would be considered. confidential. That would just be, you. know, those intimate conversations that. occur between partners, between spouses. Now, there are exceptions that apply. when there is intrafamilial violence or. intrafamilial alleged crimes that are.

committed and also when there are. alleged jointly committed crimes. So the. fact that there is an argument that. Nicholas Foronberry was working in. concert with Britney to intimidate her. still alleged victims is an argument. that that these two were working in. concert that they were jointly. accomplished crimes and that an. exception should apply that would. essentially enable the factfinder to. hear those confidential communications. that may have transpired between the. spouses while they were still married.

>> What do you make of what he's facing. right now? It's a very bizarre. allegation, disturbing to say the least. And it does make you wonder how his. testimony could potentially be used. against Britney. Could there be leverage. against him? Could a deal be worked out? But but just what he's facing and the. allegations are very interesting. >> They are. It Indiana is a a mandatory. reporter state. So anybody, not just a. teacher, not just a social worker, not. just a medical professional, anybody in. Indiana, uh, who has knowledge of child. abuse occurring has a requirement is is.

required by law to report that. And so. the allegation is that Nicholas. Forenberry was aware uh of the abuse. that was again allegedly being. perpetrated by his wife against these. minor boys. Um and so it was his duty, his mandatory requirement under Indiana. law to report his own wife. Um and then. of course coupled that with the fact. that um there's an allegation that he. that he threatened harm to the victims. if they if they reported it or um that.

turned Britney in. And then that of. course escalates the charge to. intimidation which is um a a very. serious felony um and and could carry. some significant term of imprisonment. Unfortunately, this case is going to. rely heavily on the minor victim's. testimony. I I think we have to expect. that. What are the special. considerations that you should be. thinking about? We should be thinking. about would you advise when you prepare. child witnesses for cases involving just.

I mean disgusting and graphic. allegations, >> right? So again, under the the rules of. evidence, the the trial judge runs the. courtroom and runs the conduct of the. courtroom and and how witnesses are. examined, the order in which witnesses. are examined, what questions are. permitted, and even what accommodations. are permitted to make witnesses more. comfortable. So a perfect example of. that is with some child witnesses, perhaps a little younger than the.

witnesses we're talking about in this. case. Uh sometimes they have a support. person there or a victim advocate. Sometimes they even have a support teddy. bear or toy that will make them more. comfortable. Sometimes they'll even have. a support dog um or or a pet again that. makes them feel safe and secure when. they're on the witness stand. Now, there's been lots of litigation about. whether that is prejuditial for a for a. jury or for a factfinder to see. Does it. make the victim more sympathetic to be. clutching a teddy bear or stroking a. dog, you know, a sympathetic pet while.

they're on the stand? But that is. entirely up to the judge to decide um. the conduct of the courtroom and and how. these witnesses are presented. I think. with with any case involving vulnerable. witnesses like children um there should. be consideration of how often they are. prepped um how many times they're asked. to repeat their account of what happened. to them. Are we visav that prep process. reinforcing the trauma that that they.

may have lived through? Um, again, will. there be an allegation that their. testimony has been rehearsed or. choreographed because of how many times. they've been prepped? But there is also. an argument that in order to make these. witnesses more comfortable um, and. answer questions more fully and more. candidly that they should be exposed to. the environment. They should see the. courtroom ahead of time, see the witness. stand ahead of time. Uh and there there. may also be uh motions by the. prosecution to close certain portions of.

the proceedings so that they're not um. public so that members of the public. can't come and sit in the gallery and. see the identity of these victims uh. hear their testimony and make it a. little bit more of a closed private. intimate proceeding. Of course, that. flies in the face of uh the defense's. constitutional right to confront their. accusers and to have a public trial. Uh. but again that is is entirely within the. decision-making of the trial judge uh. and should be worked out pre-trial. >> A little bit more about Nicholas.

Foronberry for a second. So during a. March 6 court hearing in sworn. testimony, an investigating officer. revealed that one of the alleged victims. identified as victim number two. disclosed a terrifying alleged encounter. involving Nicholas. According to the. officer, victim number two disclosed. that he was with Britney and another. unknown child when they went grocery. shopping. Upon returning home, Nicholas. arrived from work, had a private. conversation with Britney, then. confronted the victim directly. Nicholas. allegedly told the 13-year-old, "If you. don't stop what you're doing with my. wife, I'm going to kill you in front of.

your family." He added, "Do not continue. to do what you're doing with my wife. until you turn 16." Now, the testimony. suggests that Nicholas Forberry was not. only aware of his wife's alleged sexual. abuse of minors, but took this seemingly. this active threatening role in. attempting to manage or conceal it. To. provide context, this is the same victim. that we mentioned previously who told. police that Britney Foronberry had. groomed him with expensive gifts and. coerced him and his friends into group. sex acts while wearing the scream mask.

Professor, based on this testimony where. Nicholas allegedly threatened a victim. while acknowledging the sexual. relationship, are there charges beyond. what he's currently facing? Well, I I. think the argument for the defense is. that there was intimidation there, but. not intimidation directed toward um. being a a witness or a victim, not. intimidation to not report. If anything, there was intimidation to cease the. sexual uh encounters. And so, um while a. little bit of a of a twisted defense. perhaps, I think it is an available.

defense. Beyond that, uh, we'd have to. look at the Indiana statutes to see if. there are, um, statutes covering what. are known in Pennsylvania as terrorist. express, um, alleging, um, an act of violence. either verbally or non-verbbally, directly or indirectly, um, that may. perhaps supplant the intimidation charge. if the if all of the elements of. intimidation of a witness are not. present in this particular instance. So, you go back to Britney Foronberry. By. May 22nd, the charges against her had.

ballooned to 41 counts. Okay. Child. molestation, sexual conduct with minors, incest after court filings revealed. Deeply disturbing new allegations. involving her own young child. Probable. cause affidavit dated May 19th, authored. by Detective Patrick Williams, details. an interview between Fortonberry's then. seven-year-old son and a forensic. interviewer identified as Anna. And what. the child disclosed was heartbreaking. and horrifying. That affidavit reads,

"He tells Anna that his dad wanted him. to talk with the detective again because. his mom had sex with him. I would advise. that he spelled sex out for Anna. He. said he didn't know it was bad or. anything because he was 7 years old and. going into the second grade." According. to the child, Fort joined him in the. shower, sexually assaulted him. The. abuse, he said, continued afterward. After the incident, she allegedly gave. him pizza rolls, instructed him to keep. it all a secret, and even more chilling, I want you to listen to this part. He.

then said Britney told him she was going. to do it again when he was 13. Professor, does it get any worse than. this? I. >> I I don't I don't think it ever I I. don't think we will ever be able to wrap. our brains around a scenario where a. child is hurt. Um, so does it does it. get worse than this, unfortunately with. the the depth of our of our potential. for hurting other humans? Um, I I. unfortunately I don't know if it gets. worse than that, but it is it is pretty. bad from what we're hearing at this.

point. >> According to the court records, this is. the breakdown of what Britney Foronberry. is facing. 15 counts of child. molestation, one count of incest, 11. counts of sexual misconduct with a. minor, five counts of contributing to. delinquency of a minor, six counts of. disseminating harmful material, three. counts of performing before a minor. Uh, professor, before we wrap things up, how. does she defend herself against this? I. mean, yes, these are allegations. Yes, she's in innocent until proven guilty.

It seems like an uphill battle if you. tell if you ask me. I I hear you. And and it does look like. that from again the voluminous amount of. of reports and and allegations and the. number of witnesses that there are, the. number of alleged victims that there. are. I think if I were on the defense. team, the number one thing that I would. seek to do is sever these cases. Meaning. that I would want the incest charge to. be heard separately from the other. victim's charges. I would perhaps want. the other victims all divvied out and.

dealt with at individual proceedings. Um, again, that that numerosity can work. in either direction, but when it comes. to the incest charge, if I were on the. defense team, what I'd be wary about uh. is a juror or an independent factfinder. hearing about an even an alleged incest. charge. And my reaction or my um. instinct as a factf finder would be, well, if you could do that to your own.

blood, if you could do that to your own. child, why wouldn't you be able to abuse. children who were not yours, children. who you had had no relation to um in. much the same or even a more violent um. and graphic way. Uh so so again if I. were the defense team I would focus a. lot on um the the pre-trial aspect of. this and being able to uh separate out. the individual cases because when they. are lumped together um from a.

prosecution perspective there might be. strength in numbers. >> It's a good point. It's a good point and. that's maybe what we'll see happen. Britney Foronberry remains in custody at. the Morgan County Jail on $150,000 bond. as prosecutors pursue these multiple. multiple charges against her. And. according to court records, she is. scheduled to be back in court on August. 14th for a pre-trial conference. Professor Marian Bracha, thank you so. much for taking the time. Awesome. analysis as always. Really appreciate. it. >> Thanks, Jesse. Great to see you. >> And that's all we have for you right now.

here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to. you next time. [Music].