This report deals with Darren Edgecomb’s arrest as we explore whether Palm Beach Central High Principal has been arrested and charged.
Darren Edgecomb, the principal of Palm Beach Central High, along with four other staff members, were detained on Monday on suspicion of neglecting to disclose the sexual assaults of a 15-year-old student.
Around 10 p.m. on Monday, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office detained Edgecomb, assistant principals Nereyda Cayadode Garcia and Daniel Snider, choral teacher Scott Houchins, and Priscilla Carter, a caseworker in the district’s SafeSchools office.
By state law, all employees of the public school district, charter schools and private schools have “an affirmative duty to report all actual or suspected cases of child abuse, abandonment, or neglect.”
Failure to report child abuse is a third-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Two sexual attacks that occurred off-campus are allegedly the subject of repeated failures by district officials to report them, despite the fact that they were made aware of the assaults via a letter sent by the victim’s friend. The kid begged the school’s authorities to deal with the assaults because she feared for her friend’s life.
Darren Edgecomb arrest: Has Palm Beach Central High Principal been charged?
From the foregoing, Darren Edgecomb and four other staff members of Palm Beach Central High Principal have been charged and were arrested Monday on charges involving failing to report sexual assaults against a 15-year-old student.
The accusations are related to a molestation incident in 2021. Many of the identities of the staff employees who were arrested are blacked out in the report, which has been highly redacted.
What happened at Palm Beach Central High?
Darren Edgecomb’s arrest issue is trending after a 15-year-old high school student’s female companion submitted a letter in June 2021 describing two occasions when the student had been sexually assaulted. The letter’s anonymous author also mentioned that the student had been self-harming and expressed concern that her friend might be thinking about taking her own life.
The letter was given by the student’s buddy to an unknown member of the school staff, who forwarded it to the guidance department.
The kid was later summoned to the guidance office of the school, where it was decided she did not require a Baker Act evaluation because she posed no risk to herself.
According to the arrest report, neither the student nor the guidance office staff member informed Florida’s Department of Children and Families about the sexual assault. According to the police report, the school employee merely inquired about her suicidal ideas and how secure she felt in her relationship.
Because she was not dating the boy who raped her, the student told the staff member that she felt protected. In August 2021, the student suffered a second assault. Officials at the school are accused of lying about not knowing about the letter that described the initial assault. However, according to the police report, the student herself informed Assistant Principal Snider about the sexual assault on August 16. She complied with Snider’s request for a written report.
Snider took the complaint and gave it to other Palm Beach Central employees, but none of the administrators reported the assault to DCF, according to the arrest report. Although the staff member’s name was not included in the arrest report, he performed his own investigation into the sexual assault.
According to the complaint, the school staff decided the attack did not occur and did not notify DCF or law authorities as a result. There was no evidence that the student was in danger, so there was no need for the school to disclose the occurrence, according to the staff who said they did not report the sexual assaults.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLTBmqqeZpOkunCwwKupnqZdmrGoscKopJtlkae%2Fpr%2FTZp%2Baq12lrq25jJucmpuYYrCmutOrmKVlmJ60qXnPq6Cnm5mlrq15wZ6cp2WTna6zs8SdZg%3D%3D