The letter was handwritten in pink ink and addressed “to whom it may concern.” In it, a Florida teenager warned school staff that her friend was struggling after being sexually assaulted by two boys.
“I have witnessed both of them not taking no for an answer,” wrote the student at Palm Beach Central High School, adding that for her 15-year-old friend, “many anxiety and panic attacks were caused by this leading to self-harm.”
The teen handed the note to her chorus teacher on June 16, 2021, asking that he get it to the right people. But, according to court records, the sexual assault allegations would not reach authorities for months — even as the letter was passed between leadership at the school in Wellington, about 70 miles north of Miami. Law enforcement officials would later find evidence corroborating the assault claims.
Now, the principal and four other Palm Beach County School District employees have been arrested on felony charges over their alleged failures to report the incident, which reportedly occurred off school grounds in the spring of 2021. Each faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
Under Florida law, all of the staffers — principal Darren Edgecomb, assistant principals Nereyda Cayado de Garcia and Daniel Snider, choral teacher Scott Houchins and former counselor Priscilla Carter — were considered “mandatory reporters” of child abuse. That means they were required to report any suspected abuse involving a child to the Department of Children and Families.
They did not, court records state, and during a school trip to Washington, D.C., the victim of the alleged assault tried to kill herself. A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy told the school employees that if what was reported in the letter “had been properly addressed before the summer,” the girl’s attempted suicide “could have potentially not taken place.”
Attorneys for the employees could not immediately be reached for comment. Palm Beach County School District spokeswoman Angela Cruz Ledford said in a statement that the five had been reassigned to roles involving no contact with students.
“The allegations involving students occurred off of school property and over a weekend,” Ledford said. “However, no matter when or where any alleged assault against a student occurs, our policy aligns with the law, which requires all personnel to report suspected abuse.”
According to a heavily redacted arrest affidavit, the student’s handwritten letter said the assault allegation needed to be on the “radar.” Houchins, the choral teacher, read it in front of the student who wrote it to make sure she wasn’t referring to herself, the affidavit stated. The student said that after giving it to Houchins, she “felt confident, and trusted that he had possession of the letter and would handle it accordingly.”
Houchins told a sheriff’s deputy he gave the document to someone in the guidance counselor’s office, the affidavit stated. But he couldn’t remember whom and didn’t know what happened with it, the affidavit added.
Investigators determined the letter made its way to Carter, who called the alleged assault victim to her office. Carter did not ask the teenager about the assault claims, according to the affidavit. She asked about the suicidal thoughts, deciding the teen wasn’t a risk to herself and didn’t need to be put in a psychiatric hold, the affidavit stated.
Months later, on Aug. 16, 2021, the assault allegations came back to the forefront when they were reported to the assistant principal, Snider, according to the affidavit. The victim was called to the school’s main office a day later and asked to give a statement to Assistant Principal Cayado de Garcia and Principal Edgecomb, the affidavit stated. She did, explaining her assault and identifying a witness. Then she met again with Carter.
During an Aug. 19, 2021, meeting involving school leaders, the principal allegedly said the student should have told her parents about the assault and her parents should have reported it. He also said he had conducted his own investigation, according to the affidavit.
Edgecomb told the others at the meeting that he did not make a report “because he felt that a sexual assault did not occur, based on his investigation,” the affidavit stated. “We weren’t going by hearsay,” he said, according to the affidavit.
Cayado de Garcia said there was no need to report the assault because there was no indication the student wasn’t safe, the affidavit added.
Edgecomb told the gathered school leaders that a male student allegedly involved in the assault would face disciplinary action, such as being removed from school activities, the affidavit stated. When someone asked why he would discipline the student after determining he did nothing wrong, the principal responded that he was “aware of how it looks,” the affidavit added.
Hours after the meeting, Edgecomb reversed course and reported the sexual assault to DCF. When sheriff’s office deputies investigated, they found evidence supporting the assault allegations.
The victim’s parents ultimately decided not to pursue criminal charges over the assault itself, telling a deputy they did not want it “prolonged in the legal system” out of concern that doing so could interfere with the their daughter’s well-being. The assault case was closed in October 2021.
However, the family opted to press charges against school officials based on what they had learned about the failure to report the assault, according to the affidavit, saying their daughter had suffered “significant trauma” because of it.