Staff Reports
St. Patrick Interparish School’s assistant principal was arrested Wednesday on charges of child neglect and tampering with evidence after the school’s P.E. teacher was apprehended on March 7 for alleged sexual abuse.
According to a Gainesville Police Department (GPD) release, Ryan M. Clemens, 41, was arrested on Wednesday.
A GPD investigation revealed Clemens received a report of inappropriate behavior by St. Patrick’s P.E. teacher, 46-year-old Christopher C. Chell, toward a female student.
Clemens held a closed-door meeting with Chell and the victim and the investigation revealed Clemens allegedly sided with Chell and disregarded the victim’s report. Clemens took no further action and, days later, reported false information regarding the incident to the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF).
A St. Patrick’s teacher and a group of students separately reported similar incidents regarding Chell’s inappropriate behavior days after the initial report.
According to the release, Clemens failed to take action to protect students from Chell, including not submitting any additional reports to law enforcement or DCF.
Chell was arrested on March 7 and charged with 10 counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child between 12 and 16 years old. Chell, who was reportedly fired by the school the previous week, had been employed by St. Patrick’s for 4½ years. He was the school’s athletic director, P.E. teacher and oversaw and led numerous sports teams.
GPD detectives believe more victims have not been identified. Anyone with information regarding this incident or know any victims is asked to call 352-393-7734.
As a former parishoner there (whose daughter attended) I was/am appaled by the lack of oversight. This relatively small school has a very high staff-to-student ratio and many of the non-scholarship parents pay a lot of hard earned money to have their child attend that school. In general it is a very good school academically but the missing component is that a few male careerists took it upon themselves to ruin a reputation and I am betting others were aware but did nothing. thaqt is how these things work. Where was the school counselor? Where was the principal? Where was the school nurse? Where was the priset (after all – it is a small parish and a small school. Too busy to know what is happening in your own backyard???). More heads need to roll and this once fine school needs to be closed and merged with the other catholic school in Gainesville OR totally revamped internally with new leadership. Once again our we Catholics failed to get the message from decades of previous scandals. I am thoroughly disgusted and do not see this as some anomaly as others will in order to quickly dismiss it and” move on”.
As a catholic school parent myself but in a different city, I share your sentiments. This is disgusting not only that it happened, but that the brave child reported it and was dismissed. Agree, where was the principal? Where is a statement from the superintendent? The diocese? We have to quit allowing these things to be swept under the rug.
The Dioceses made a statement. Here it is.
It was a standard b.s. response. The Diocese needs a complete overhaul of that school’s staff and parish leadership.
Total disregard and lack of respect for the legacy left by Father Julian shameful
I have a child at St. Patricks. The actual report does NOT show that Ryan Clemens failed to report to DCF as required by law. The police report on Chell says that Clemens called the parents and does not show he called a closed meeting with the victim and the alleged abuser. Yet, I’m reading news reports that he did. The report faults him for not updating DCF when DCF was already investigating. Keep in mind, Clemens was the one who called DCF.
As Catholics we shouldn’t be so quick to whip ourselves until we actually read these reports. I’m not keen on feeling gratuitous shame, especially where the police department conducts a shoddy investigation and unnecessarily arrests school staff. Full disclosure: Mr. Clemens has always been fair and kind to me and my children at St. Pats.
I am not interested in ruining Clemens life and reputation based on these confused and conflicting police reports. Chell is another matter altogether. But when they went after Clemens, I lost trust in the investigation. Btw, my kid is staying put.
This is the Gainesville Police Department release that our story was based on:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=831061805731296&set=a.228073589363457