A former public information officer for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office has been indicted on charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old student in an incident for which he was arrested in October 2016.

Frank Huggins, 73 of Cumming, faces one count each of sexual assault of a student – a felony – and sexual battery – a misdemeanor – for the Oct. 4 incident, according to a Forsyth County Grand Jury indictment report filed on Feb. 13.

Huggins is accused of engaging in sexual conduct with the teenager by touching her “inner thigh” while “being a teacher at Lanier Technical College with supervisory authority over [the victim],” who “the accused knew and should have known was a student.”

The sexual battery charge stems from Huggins supposedly “intentionally” making “physical contact with the intimate parts of the body of [the victim], without the consent of [the victim].”

“Suffice it to say we deny that anything improper occurred,” said his attorney, Rafe Banks III of Banks, Stubbs & McFarland LLP. “It illustrates the old adage that the DA can indict a ham sandwich if they chose to.”

According to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office at the time of his arrest, the incident reportedly occurred while she was driving with Huggins in his capacity as a driving instructor with the college.

Huggins served the sheriff’s office from 2001 to 2010 as a member of former Sheriff Ted Paxton’s command staff and as a spokesman for the agency.

He retired in 2010 as a captain.

“Detectives confirmed the victim’s allegations using video and audio evidence from camera footage recovered from inside the vehicle,” a spokesman for the agency said at the time.

Huggins has “no prior arrest history” in Forsyth County.

Forsyth County Superior Court Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Bagley is presiding over this case, for which no trial date has been set.