ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A former St. Johns County preschool employee has admitted to molesting several children in his care and will be sentenced to 35 years to life, according to a plea deal he signed in October.
Anthony Guadalupe, 20, pleaded guilty to a dozen charges of lewd and lascivious molestation on a child under 12 years old. The incidents were reported at the Chappell Schools’ Longleaf Campus, a private preschool in northern St. Johns County.
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In addition to the molestation charges, he also pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition.
Guadalupe had been scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, but the sentencing hearing has been delayed to allow more families to share victim impact statements.
Guadalupe initially faced one molestation charge when he was first arrested in July 2022 -- but that changed quickly.
NOTE: The following details are graphic and might be disturbing for some. Reader discretion advised.
Documents revealed that the father of a 4-year-old girl was the first to report the molestation to police in July 2022. He told detectives he noticed his daughter was pulling up her underwear as he entered the classroom to pick her up.
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Surveillance video showed Guadalupe fondling the child while appearing to perform a sex act in front of her classmates.
Guadalupe was fired and arrested.
Detectives then searched through three months’ worth of surveillance video, which led them to identify seven other child victims. An attorney for the families of the victims said 14 separate incidents were recorded on a classroom surveillance camera between May and June 2022.
The parents of the initial 4-year-old victim filed a lawsuit against Chappell Schools, alleging that before Guadalupe’s arrest, multiple parents had reported concerns about Guadalupe to school administrators.
After the lawsuit was filed, even more victims came forward. The attorney for the families said 10 different children were involved, eight who were touched inappropriately and two who witnessed the incidents.
A second civil suit was filed in September 2022 against the Chappell Schools’ campus in St. Johns County, alleging a second staffer molested a student there.
That staffer, Neal Beaver, no longer works at the preschool and moved to Germany before an arrest warrant was issued for him in October 2022.
Guadalupe is set for a status conference at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in St. Johns County court.