Frank Darrell Cromwell
The defendant entered a guilty plea to production of child pornography on February 18, 2021. In addition to the prison time, Cromwell was also ordered to pay special assessments in the amount of $55,100, to serve a lifetime of supervised release, and to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.
According to court records and Thursday’s hearing, between December 2018 and February 2019, Cromwell used Snapchat to convince multiple minor victims that he was a female, and to communicate with the minors. During the relevant time period, Cromwell induced and sometimes coerced the minor victims to engage in sexually explicit conduct and to send explicit images and videos to him.
According to information previously released by the U.S. Attorney’s office, there were ten victims in the case, and the guilty plea reflects that of one victim. According to published reports, Cromwell previously served as an athletic-training intern at Watauga High School. He assisted the athletic teams at WHS through an association with Appalachian State University during the 2017-18 school year.
The reports say Cromwell was later employed by Wilkes County Schools as a wrestling coach at West Wilkes Middle School for the 2018-19 wrestling season. He was also reportedly employed with Daymark Recovery Services, a private agency that provides specialized services to Wilkes County Schools.