Cheerleading Academy Owner Arrested in Sex Probe

VANCOUVER, Wash. – A cheerleading school owner has been arrested for investigation of having sex with an underage student.

Neil A. Finger, 28, owner of the Vancouver Cheer Academy, was arrested late Tuesday for investigation of sexual misconduct with a minor, a Class C felony, but was released after posting $10,000 bond, police and Clark County officials said.

On Wednesday, county Superior Court Judge Robert L. Harris set arraignment for Oct. 9 and barred Finger from having any contact with minors. Finger said his staff could keep the academy open, but he added that he might close it.

Operating in leased space in a business park, the academy offers cheerleading classes for competitions from the local to the national levels, as well as private lessons, tumbling classes, a gymnasium open to the public and a "parents night out" for children ages 5 to 18, according to an article in The Columbian newspaper in April 2006.

According to an affidavit filed by prosecutors, a 17-year-old girl told Cindy Bull, an investigator from the Child Abuse Intervention Center, that the two had sex at Finger's apartment. "Each time he told her not to tell because he would get in trouble," Bull wrote.

The girl's mother read about the matter in her daughter's diary, Bull wrote.