ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A now-former employee at a private preschool in St. Johns County was arrested last week on a felony charge of lewd and lascivious behavior on a child younger than 12 years old, according to an arrest report from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the arrest report, a child told her father that Anthony Guadalupe put a toy in her underwear at a school on Longleaf Pine Parkway. The report shows the school reviewed surveillance footage with the Sheriff’s Office and saw the incident was captured on video. In the video, according to the report, Guadalupe could be seen putting his hands under the girl’s dress.
The name of the school was redacted from the arrest report, but the phone in the report is listed as the Chappell Schools’ Longleaf Campus. The business’s website says it’s a family-owned preschool established in Jacksonville more than 60 years ago.
Guadalupe, 18, of St. Johns County, was booked Tuesday into the St. Johns County jail and bonded out on $100,000 the next day, according to online jail records.
News4JAX received a screenshot of a message that Chappell Schools sent to parents about the incident. The message states the man, who was an assistant teacher, is now a former employee. Messages were sent out to parents, explaining the arrest.
“I was shocked when I looked at it because my son is in the same class as the teacher,” Ramesh Reddy told News4JAX.
“Especially with the security system, you would not think anyone would have the audacity to do it,” Carlie Lewis said. “It’s one thing if a child came up and said oh, this happened. But now you have the evidence to back it up.”
Chappell Schools on Monday sent News4JAX the following statement:
“At Chappell Schools, our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of the children in our care. Upon learning of a former employee’s alleged inappropriate actions with a student on July 18th, we immediately took steps to ensure the staff member did not have access to the school, both state and local authorities were notified and the St. John’s County Sheriff’s office arrested the former employee. We will continue to fully cooperate with all appropriate agencies as they conduct their investigations. As this is an on-going investigation, we cannot comment further, but as we have additional information we are able to share, we will be as transparent as possible and provide updates in a timely manner.”