The former longtime music teacher at an Alabama private school will not face criminal charges after recently being publicly accused of sexually abusing students decades ago.

Delbert Bailey, the music teacher at Huntsville’s Randolph School during the 1970s-90s, has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least six former students, according to the authorities.

Earlier this year, Bailey was the subject of an AL.com investigative story in which three men said the former teacher abused them decades ago when they were students at Randolph. About two months after AL.com published that story, the school announced its own investigation found evidence of sexual misconduct by Bailey.

However, local prosecutors have now determined they cannot charge Bailey with a crime or present the case to a grand jury for possible indictment.

“Without saying whether or not any crime has been committed, I will say that under these allegations there’s no legal base for a charge,” said Madison County Assistant District Attorney Tim Douthit. “We’re not anticipating any criminally provable charges under the law.”

Efforts to reach Bailey for comment were not immediately successful. The now 80-year-old former teacher has in the past denied the allegations of sexual abuse.

Prosecutors and Huntsville police investigated multiple reports against Bailey — both before and after AL.com’s article published in February.

Although Alabama in 1985 eliminated its statute of limitations on many sex crimes involving children, Douthit said the allegations against Bailey don’t fit the criteria to file charges in 2019.

“We have been unable to find one we can prosecute under Alabama law," Douthit said.

The allegations against Bailey ranged from inappropriate touching to rape. None of the accusers reported the allegations at the time they say it happened.

Stuart Vance, one of the men who told AL.com he was abused by Bailey, said while he knew his case probably wouldn’t be prosecuted, he’s disappointed Bailey won’t face any criminal charges.

“It basically says that we can’t get justice,” Vance said. “We are not the only people who are going to be in this situation.”

The allegations

In 2018, Randolph School hired the Fisher Phillips law firm to investigate decades-old sexual abuse allegations involving educators and students. During the investigation five former employees, including Bailey, were accused of sexual misconduct.

The other four former employees — whose names weren’t released — faced allegations ranging from an alleged sexual relationship to forcible touching and sexual suggestions, according to school officials. Those allegations — reported to have happened between 1972-82 — weren’t corroborated by the school investigation, officials said.

Along with Vance, two other men—James Lloyd and Bill Wear—publicly accused Bailey of sexually abusing them. The three men, each now living in three different states, told AL.com the abuse happened decades ago when they were Randolph students.

Wear said he was a 15-year-old 10th grader when Bailey first started touching him inappropriately in 1974. Wear, who is now living in Mississippi, said he didn’t report the abuse at the time. Even when the abuse escalated to rape, Wear said, he didn’t report it because Bailey made threats about his scholarship.

Vance, who now lives in Hawaii, said he was sexually abused at Bailey’s Huntsville home in May 1980 after a friend’s graduation party. Vance said he was a 16-year-old 11th grader when Bailey offered to let him spend the night at his house. Vance said Bailey groped and fondled him that night.

Lloyd started at Randolph School in fifth grade in 1976. He said inappropriate contact with Bailey began with back rubs or hugging. By the time Lloyd was a 14-year-old eighth grader, he said, it escalated to sexual touching over clothing. By the 1980s, Lloyd told AL.com, the abuse escalated to sexual assault.

Lloyd declined to comment for this story.

Vance said he wants a better explanation about why Bailey isn’t being charged with a crime. He said if Alabama law isn’t protecting sex crimes victims, lawmakers need to change that.

Randolph, an influential K-12 secular private school, isn’t the only private school in Alabama where former teachers have been accused of sexual misconduct.

Last week, Indian Springs School, an elite private school in Shelby County, released a letter saying five former teachers had been accused of decades-old sexual misconduct.

And, in 2018 in Birmingham, Altamont School released a report that said 10 students survived sexual misconduct by teachers from the 1970s-90s.