Ryan Clemens & Christopher Chell Handed Several New Cases for Crimes Against Kids
Ryan Clemens and Christopher Chell have been handed several more cases and charges for their crimes against children at St. Patrick Interparish K-8 Catholic school while respectively working as the assistant principal and physical education (P.E.) teacher.
The P.E. teacher, Chell, was originally booked on March 7 for one case on ten counts of molestation against victims between the ages of 12-16.
Among his five new cases, his new charges include six counts of committing a sexual offense as an authoritative figure, one count of child cruelty, and two more counts of molestation against victims between the ages of 12-16.
The assistant principal, Clemens, was originally booked on March 14 for one case on one count of evidence concealment and one count of child neglect.
Among his four new cases, his charges include two counts of failure to report suspected child abuse, one count of fraud, and two more counts of child neglect.
The nine new cases were filed on Monday with nine new sworn complaints.
As of this writing, most of the new sworn complaints have not been publicly released on the Alachua County court records website; however, two new sworn complaints against Clemens have been released regarding his new charges of failing to report suspected child abuse.
The sworn complaints detail that, at the time of Clemens arrest, he had been working at St. Patrick Interparish for 4.5 years. He originally worked as an athletic director before becoming the assistant principal.
Previously released documents on Chell reveal that he also began working at the school 4.5 years ago as a history teacher before becoming the school’s PE teacher.
It hasn’t been independently verified if Chell and Clemens worked in tandem as athletic directors; however, this does confirm they both began working at the school at the same time and both held the position of athletic director.
The sworn complaints corroborate previously released reports, detailing that Clemens did not report the matter to law enforcement after he was told that Chell asked a student if he could be her “secret boyfriend” on February 20th.
Clemens reportedly began investigating the inappropriate behavior himself instead of reporting the matter to law enforcement.
Clemens' supposed investigation included having a private meeting between himself, Chell, and the victim.
The reports state that in the same week (Feb 22), Clemens received reports from a faculty member that Chell had been fixated on a student through a classroom window while she was taking a test.
Clemens reportedly told the Department of Children and Families (DCF) about the incident regarding the unlawful “secret boyfriend” comment made by Chell one day after he was told by the faculty member that Chell had been staring at a student.
The sworn complaint states that the DCF had found “Chell engaged in no wrong-doing” and that Clemens and Chell both “referenced DCF’s refusal to investigate the matter as indication that no wrong-doing had taken place.”
Clemens is being charged with concealing evidence, in part for reporting false information to the DCF.
Days after Clemens reported false information to the DCF, three middle-school girls came up to him and reported that Chell had committed unlawful conduct against them, ranging from inappropriate comments to coercively forceful touching.
One of the sworn complaints details Clemens’ police interview, with him telling officers that Chell appeared to be “targeting” one specific girl and that he was “infatuated [or] keyed in on her.”
When Chell brought up the victim’s dating life to her, he reportedly asked, “Can you only imagine if you and I were the same age?”
The report additionally details that Clemens received reports of abuses committed by Chell as far back as early February, stating, “This is evidenced by the fact [Clemens] had reviewed and saved clips from the gym surveillance cameras even as far back as [February 8th]."
No reports indicate that Clemens held any active or ongoing communication with the DCF as he was ongoingly receiving reports about Chell.
Clemens recently filed a motion to modify his pretrial release, and it was granted by the court.
He was originally not allowed to have any unsupervised contact with any children; however, he may now have unsupervised contact with his own two children.
Clemens and Chell have pleaded not guilty to all of their charges.
Further details on Clemens and Chell’s crimes were reported when Clemens was released.
