JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Head of the Upper School at Episcopal School of Jacksonville was moved to the Duval County Jail Monday after being arrested on a stalking charge in Alachua County last week.
Matthew Joseph Kearney was booked into the Alachua County Jail on an out-of-county warrant, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office said.
Kearney, the head of the Upper School, was fired before he was arrested.
The school sent a letter to parents Thursday about the incident. There was increased security at the school on Friday as a precautionary measure.
VIEW: Episcopal School of Jacksonville letter to parents
News4Jax learned the charge does not have anything to do with the school, or a student, but court documents suggest it stems from an incident with his ex-girlfriend.
According to an injunction filed by Kearney's ex-girlfriend, he stalked, harassed and threatened her on a regular basis.
"Looking at what she was saying in the dating violence injunction, you know, this person appeared to be very unstable, putting a gun to his own head, saying he was going to kill himself and that type of thing. That's why they issued the injunction," said Gil Smith, News4Jax crime and safety analyst.
The injunction shows that incident led to Kearney being Baker Acted and placed in a mental health facility.
"She may have provided police reports or had some type of proof or evidence or just told her story about the dating violence that was occurring between the two," Smith said.
In the injunction, his ex-girlfriend said he would stalk her repeatedly after she broke up with him, and at one point, he threatened to hurt her friend.
"(He) is unstable. I think he will continue to stalk me. Every time I have attempted to break up with him, he begins to stalk and harass me until I give in. He follows me around work, texts me and calls me constantly," Kearney's ex-girlfriend said in the injunction. "He states me and his job are all he had and now that he no longer has his job, I believe his focus will be on me. I just want him to leave me alone."
Smith said the injunctions can be effective.
"We hear about cases when someone violated the injunction and they become very violent by harming them or killing them, but hundreds of these injunctions are served every day. I served them for the last three years. I was in the Sheriff's Office and I served about three or four every day and in most cases, the people do stay away," Smith said.
Kearney is being held on a $100,000 bond.
In March 2012, the head of the Episcopal School, Dale Regan, was shot and killed by a Spanish teacher who had been fired.