JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Former daycare employee Anthony Guadalupe, who pleaded not guilty to child molestation accusations in January, is preparing to present an insanity defense.
Guadalupe was facing 12-counts lewd and lascivious molestation, and two counts of lewd exhibition in connection with children at the Chappelle School in St. Johns County. Guadalupe signed a guilty plea deal in October but withdrew his plea in January. With the plea withdrawn, prosecutors added seven additional counts of lewd and lascivious acts.
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According to court documents, Guadalupe’s attorney Terry Shoemaker said that Gudalupe’s intellectual disability prevented him from fully understanding the consequences of a guilty plea.
The charging document shows the alleged incidents took place between May 26 and July 18, 2022.
According to court documents, Shoemaker said that Guadalupe suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and intellectual deficiency.
Shoemaker said that Guadalupe experienced symptoms of these disorders throughout his daily life, including the times of his alleged offenses.
In July 2022, Guadalupe was fired from Chappell School’s Longleaf campus. The incident was captured on video surveillance, and Guadalupe was arrested, according to investigators.
With the guilty plea, the possible sentence was 35 years to life. Now, the new minimum possible sentence would be 103 years, if he’s found guilty.