Former Fort Worth private school piano teacher sentenced for indecent exposure
Former Trinity Valley School piano teacher Trent Muse was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to exposing himself to students.
Muse, 29, was arrested June 24, 2024, on allegations of inappropriate conduct with children at the Fort Worth private school. He was indicted by a Tarrant County grand jury Dec. 13 on five counts of indecent exposure with a child. He pleaded guilty Wednesday to all five counts.
After his arrest, he bonded out and hadn’t been held in jail prior to Wednesday’s sentencing. He was booked into the Tarrant County Jail after the hearing.
Muse can’t appeal his sentence as part of a plea bargain agreement with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office. He will also be required to register as a sex offender and won’t be able to carry guns or ammunition upon his release.
The victims’ parents addressed the former piano teacher after the sentencing. Many expressed their frustration that the sentence wasn’t longer, considering the seriousness of the crime and the life-long damage they say has been done to their children.
“We state our profound disappointment,” the mother of one of the victims said.
The parents said Muse shattered their trust. One mother said her daughter has been having nightmares about being kidnapped by Muse or a “nice man.”
Another mother called Muse’s abuse “life-altering,” and said driving to school or hearing a piano triggers memories of what happened.
“Something we intended for the good of our baby girl will affect her forever,” the mom said with emotion.
One of the fathers praised his daughter and the other children for their bravery in coming forward. He knows they will likely struggle with the effects of what was done to them for the rest of their lives.
“There has been no genuine remorse,” the father said of Muse. “He was only stopped by the bravery of our children.”
Muse’s defense attorney, Monroe Solomon III, said he believed the sentence was “fair and reasonable based on the circumstances.”
“From the very beginning, he’s been open and honest with it, and he’s never tried to do the whole shaming or turning it on anybody else,” Solomon said. “He understands that he took responsibility for his stuff and he stands by that.”
Solomon also said Muse wants the families to know he’s sorry for what he did and he hopes they will be able “to move forward with their lives to where this doesn’t affect them.”
Teacher’s firing led to investigation, lawsuit
Trinity Valley officials said in an emailed statement Thursday that “Muse’s actions have left a profound emotional weight on our community.”
“It is our sincere hope that this outcome allows for a path toward closure for the victims and our school,” the statement reads. “We will continue to navigate future proceedings with the compassion, sensitivity, and thoughtfulness our community deserves.”
Muse, who was employed by Trinity Valley during the 2022-23 school year, was fired after a family reported that he’d exposed himself to their child during a one-on-one piano lesson at the private Fort Worth K-12 school on April 26, 2023. He told administrators that the exposure was accidental following a trip to the bathroom, school officials have said.
Then Head of School Blair Lowry chose to fire Muse over his failure to self-report the incident, according to a letter summarizing the findings of third-party investigators T&M USA.
School administrators also contacted Texas Child Protective Services and notified law enforcement about the allegations.
T&M’s investigation found that Lowry and other administrators chose to keep the information about Muse’s alleged exposure to themselves in case it was accidental. School officials reviewed the piano teacher’s employment file and school-issued laptop, but didn’t initiate any internal inquiries to find out whether he had engaged in inappropriate conduct with other TVS students, the letter states.
A group of Trinity Valley parents has filed a lawsuit against Trinity Valley and its board of trustees for failure to protect their children, according to court documents.
In May 2024, over a year after Muse was fired, the parents of three of his former students learned the girls had been discussing with each other “how Muse had not been wearing underwear in front of them and had engaged in inappropriate behavior,” according to the suit.
On May 21, 2024, Trinity Valley School officials sent a letter to families saying they had received reports the previous week of misconduct by a former piano teacher during the 2022-23 school year. The letter didn’t specify what the behavior was or identify Muse by name.
In June 2024, Trinity Valley hired the third-party investigators, T&M USA, to review what happened leading to Muse’s termination and the communication about his departure from the private school.
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 3:49 PM.
