3 weeks ago
A Texas charter school principal and two educators face felony charges in a student sexual abuse case. The investigation uncovered two incidents, with one suspect allegedly attempting to destroy evidence.
UPDATED: Feb 14, 2025 23:01 IST
A principal and two former employees from a charter school in Texas face felony charges over the alleged sexual abuse of two students.
The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation at Newman Academy in Arlington.
The two teachers are charged with inappropriate behavior and child grooming, while the principal is accused of attempting to cover up the incident. The alleged abuse took place at the school's Gibbins campus, which serves students in grades 7 to 12. The Newman Academy (NIA) Police Department is leading the investigation.
Police held a news conference with school administrators on Thursday to address the developments.
The school's Chief of Police, Matthew Antkowiak, stated that two seventh-grade girls approached an officer on February 6 at 9:30 a.m. to report an incident. While he did not disclose details of their conversation, Antkowiak emphasized that the department acted swiftly, arresting Ruel Barbee, one of the accused educators, later that afternoon.
“That afternoon, we had a probable cause warrant issued by a district judge, and he was in Tarrant County Jail,” Antkowiak said, as quoted by NBC.
The suspect was taken into custody within five hours of the students' complaint.
Two separate incidents
During the investigation, authorities discovered they were dealing with two separate cases.
“When we started looking at that, we realized we had two separate incidents involving two different students and two different educators,” Antkowiak explained.
52-year-old Barbee has been charged with a second-degree felony for an improper relationship between an educator and a student. He was a teacher’s aide at the school. Investigators interviewed teachers and students over the past week while collecting physical evidence related to the case.
The second accused educator, Gabrielle Little, was arrested on February 10. The 20-year-old surrendered at the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office. She posted a $15,000 bond and is currently free, according to jail records. Little was an assistant part-time coach for the school’s girls’ basketball team.
Principal accused of covering up sexual abuse case
Two days later, the Gibbins campus principal, Rick Adams, was arrested on five counts, including:
Failure to report abuse
Tampering with evidence
Tampering with a witness
He is currently held at the Tarrant County Jail on $50,000 bond.
Police claim Adams participated in or directed the destruction of evidence in the case. Investigators also suspect there may be more victims.
Authorities confirmed that Barbee and Little were fired immediately after the complaint was filed. Principal Adams resigned during the investigation, though he was initially placed on paid administrative leave.
Published By:
Rivanshi Rakhrai
Published On:
Feb 14, 2025
