Awaiting trial for sex assault, former Allentown bugle corps director sues for $580,000 severance payout

George Hopkins, the former director of the Allentown Cadets and CEO of Youth Education in the Arts who separated from the organization after being accused of sexually harassing nine women, is suing YEA for more than $580,000 in severance pay.

Hopkins, 63, is awaiting trial on three counts of felony sexual assault. In a lawsuit filed last week in Lehigh County Court, he alleges that under his contract, the organization owes him severance of one month’s pay for each of his 35 years at YEA.

When he left, Hopkins was being paid $199,000 a year, meaning severance alone would amount to more than $580,000, the lawsuit says. Hopkins also claims in the suit that he’s owed $33,074 for unpaid business expenses, bonus pay for 2016 and ’17, and unused vacation time.

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In a similar lawsuit filed in federal court, YEA contended that no severance is owed to Hopkins because he was fired for cause. Hopkins, in the Lehigh County lawsuit, says he left the organization through a “mutually agreeable cessation of employment.”

Under Hopkins’ contract, which is attached to the lawsuit as an exhibit, “willful or severe misconduct” or conviction of a felony are cause for dismissal.

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Hopkins was accused of sexual assault and harassment by nine women in an article published in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2018. The accusers ranged in age from 16 to 37 at the time of the alleged incidents, which dated to the 1980s.

Prosecutors allege Hopkins, of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, assaulted an employee of YEA in 2008 in his Allentown home. The woman told prosecutors that Hopkins gave her a glass of wine, and after drinking it she felt like she was “floating on the ceiling,” court records say.

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She told investigators she was unable to resist Hopkins as he undressed her, although she repeatedly told him, “No.”

A second woman alleged Hopkins sexually assaulted her in 2010 at his apartment in the 200 block of North Third Street in Allentown.

In an online post last year, Hopkins called the allegations an “orchestrated smear” by those who disagreed with his management.

» READ MORE: Former drum corps director George Hopkins charged with sexual assault

Hopkins’ attorney, Larry A. Weisberg, declined to comment on the litigation Tuesday. An attorney for YEA did not respond to messages Tuesday.

In May, the Allentown Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps separated from YEA and became the nonprofit Cadets Arts and Entertainment Inc., stating they lost $1.5 million in sponsorships, donations and ticket sales after the allegations against Hopkins were made public.