JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A day after Baldwin Middle-Senior High School Principal Michael Townsend was arrested, News4JAX has confirmed the case is connected to the ongoing investigation involving a former teacher accused of inappropriate communications with a student.
On Tuesday, we obtained the unredacted arrest report for Michael Townsend. He is accused of failing to report child abuse.
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On May 22, James Mulvey, 47, a social studies teacher at the school, was arrested on a second-degree felony charge involving offenses against students by authority figures. According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Mulvey exchanged emotionally intimate emails with a student using school accounts and asked for the student’s personal email to keep communicating over the summer.
According to Townsend’s arrest report, on April 30, two students brought Townsend a photo of Mulvey and another student holding hands inside a classroom. The report said Townsend told the students that the student in the picture was Mulvey’s “adopted daughter,” and said that he was showing her “fatherly love.”
The report said Townsend did not ask for a copy of the photo, nor did he ask the students to write a statement about the matter.
According to the report, the students said they felt like Townsend was minimizing the relationship and seemed dismissive of their concerns.
The report revealed a text response from Townsend to one of the student’s parents that stated: “No worries I’m a little worn out on the subject. I just wanted to let you know [your child] was one of the students that did things the right way. [Your child] told me something a few weeks ago that allowed me to put a safety plan in place and being monitoring the teacher. I hate the entire situation for all involved, but we’re see something say something for a reason. When the girl’s emails became public of course I have turn things over to DCF, DCPS, HR, and PD. I take notes so [your child] is included in them. Not sure if DCPS, JSO, etc. will end up talking to [your child]. Just wanted to give you a heads up as a dad.”
The report also said that a teacher spoke with the school’s assistant principal because she was concerned that the student was missing her class to spend time in Mulvey’s class. The assistant principal told the teacher to report her concerns to Townsend, but the report said that when she did, she felt “blown off” and not taken seriously.
The report continued, saying that on May 20, Townsend called multiple students to his office to discuss Mulvey’s behavior.
In the report, the students described “highly inappropriate” actions they witnessed between the student and Mulvey, including hugging, Mulvey’s hand on the student’s thigh, and the student lying on Mulvey’s shoulder.
The students even pointed out that the other student spent a lot of time in Mulvey’s class, sat close to his desk and appeared to get upset when other students approached Mulvey to ask him questions.
According to the students, Townsend tried to justify Mulvey’s alleged actions and told them that he had already “handled” the situation, the report said. One student said Townsend told them that he had spoken to the other student’s mother and she consented to the relationship between her and Mulvey, but when asked about that interaction, the mother said Townsend never reached out to her and that she’d never spoken to Mulvey and wouldn’t approve of a relationship as described or seen in the emails.
The report said Townsend met with Mulvey to “warn him about the pending investigation and advised him to no longer contact the student” before he officially filed a report.
Detectives also interviewed Townsend on June 2, but details of that conversation were redacted.
Investigators concluded Townsend failed to immediately report suspected abuse, neglect or sexual abuse, and he was booked on June 29, according to the report.