Lawsuit: School employee Deonte Carraway ran “Sex Club” for creating child porn under the nose of Principal Michelle Williams
GLENARDEN, MD. – The family of one of perhaps dozens of victims of the teacher’s aide at a PG County elementary school has filed a lawsuit against the principal and PG County school board for failure to report allegations of abuse to police and for allowing the accused pervert Deonte Carraway to operate a child porn “sex club” openly in the school.
The Prince George’s County Police Department arrested a Glenarden man for child sexual abuse and producing child pornography. The suspect is 22-year-old Deonte Carraway of the 7900 block of Glenarden Parkway. The preliminary investigation reveals the suspect targeted victims and videotaped sexual acts between minors during the school day at Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary School in Glenarden. Detectives believe sex abuse and/or child pornography were also produced at the Glenarden Municipal Center, Theresa Banks Memorial Aquatic Center as well as in private homes.
The FBI has entered the investigation after investigators learned that images and video may have been sold and shared across state lines. The odds are that the child porn “sex club” described in the lawsuit filed on behalf of “John Doe” against the school system has also been spread around the world via the internet.
PG Police reports that Carraway was a paid assistant at the elementary school during the 2014-2015 school year. He was a volunteer teacher’s assistant during the current school year. Carraway was also the director for the Glenarden Voices of Youth Choir.
Police say that on February 4, 2016, at 7:00 pm, a victim’s relative called police after discovering a nude photo on the child’s cell phone. That photo had been electronically sent to Carraway through the “Kik” messenger app. On February 5th, Prince George’s County Police detectives interviewed and arrested Carraway. Throughout the weekend, detectives began unravelling what is turning into a wide-ranging investigation. Preliminarily, detectives have identified at least 10 known victims ranging in age from 9-13. Detectives so far have uncovered approximately 40 videos showing the young victims performing sexual acts on each other or alone at the direction of Carraway. They also believe Carraway sexually abused some of the victims.
Carraway is charged with 10 counts of felony child pornography, sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree sexual offense. Additional charges are likely. Carraway has admitted his involvement in the manufacturing and production of child pornography. He’s in the custody of the Department of Corrections on a one-million-dollar bond. The Prince George’s County Police Department is working closely with Dr. Kevin Maxwell, the Superintendent of the Prince George’s County Public Schools System, regarding this ongoing investigation.
Prince Georges Police asks the public that if you’re concerned a child has been a victim, please call our Child and Vulnerable Adult Abuse Unit at 301-772-4930.
A Google search revealed that the school website hosted photos of children with a teacher in a reading group but that photo has now been removed along with any photo of Principal Michelle Williams or Assistant Principal Donna Smith.
The charges as laid out in the lawsuit filed by attorneys Timothy F. Maloney, Matthew M. Bryant and Alyse L. Prawde, of JOSEPH, GREENWALD & LAAKE, P.A. in Prince Georges County Circuit Court name Carraway, Principal Williams and the school system as defendants:
1 1 , Caraway used his position as a teacher’s assistant to sexually assault and prey on students at Sylvania Woods Elementary School. Specifically, his status as a teacher’s assistant permitted him access to the school, the auditorium, and the bathrooms with elementary age children. Caraway’s status as a teacher’s assistant also permitted him to remove students from class and escort them to various locations within the school building, which made possible this sexual abuse and exploitation.
- While in the school building during school hours, Caraway pressured and/or coerced students to engage in sexual acts with him. Caraway recorded this criminal sexual abuse and other sexual acts of the minor children on his cell phone.
- Caraway also pressured, coerced and enticed children who were students at Sylvania Woods Elementary to perform sexual acts that he filmed on his phone. Caraway used his status as an adult, a school employee, and agent of the school to persuade school children at Sylvania Woods, including the plaintiff John Doe, to perform sexual acts that he filmed. Caraway told some of the students, including the Plaintiff, that they would be participating in a “club” with him to help persuade them to engage in these sexual acts on camera. The children that he persuaded to film these acts were as young as nine years old. Upon information and belief, the number of victims is at least 10, but it may be as many as 30.
- The filming of these sex acts took place openly in the school building during school hours, including in such open places as the school auditorium, as well as in the bathrooms and other locations on school property. Carraway was able to openly entice these children to perform sexual acts openly on school property because of the complete absence of any supervision and oversight of his conduct or behavior involving these children.
- Plaintiff John Doe is nine years old and was vulnerable to the influence of an adult authority figure such as Caraway. During school hours on school property, Caraway enticed Plaintiff to perform sexual acts on camera. Caraway filmed these sexual acts for his own gratification and with the intent to use the images of this child sexual activity for exploitive purposes. Caraway would call the children out of their classrooms and have them meet him at different locations on school property for the purposes of sexually abusing the students and/or recording the abuse on his cellular phone. Carraway was able to exercise this control over students by virtue of his position of trust and authority at the school, which was conferred upon him by Defendants Board of Education and Principal Williams.
- John Doe is currently a fourth grade student at Sylvania Woods and is one of Caraway’s victims.
- On multiple occasions, Caraway called John Doe out of class and brought him to the school auditorium. Caraway directed a fifth-grade girl to perform a sexual act on John Doe during school hours. Upon information and belief, Caraway recorded this act on his cell phone and circulated the video among students by “Kik,” a mobile messaging application.
- There were at least two boys and one girl in John Doe’s fourth grade class who were also preyed on by Carraway.
- In January 2016, John Doe’s uncle discovered that Caraway had been communicating with John Doe and other children on Kik, which allows individuals to anonymously send messages, photographs, and videos. John Doe’s uncle, who periodically checks John Doe’s phone, saw on his cell phone that there were inappropriate pictures of students that were sent through Kik.
- John Doe’s uncle and Jane Doe notified the administration at Sylvania Woods
Elementary School about the inappropriate pictures and messages from Caraway. On February 4, 2016, they met with Assistant Principal Donna Smith and Principal Michelle Williams and showed them the photographs on John Doe’s phone. Principal Williams told John Doe’s uncle and Jane Doe to return to the school the next day for another meeting.
- That night, John Doe’s uncle contacted the Prince George’s County Police Department about the pictures and messages.
- Upon initiating an investigation, Prince George’s County Police Department discovered four SIM cards from Carraway’s mobile phone. On just one of the SIM cards, there were at least 44 recordings of sexual acts involving children.
- Upon information and belief, in some of the recordings, Caraway can be seen or heard directing the children to perform certain sexual acts.
- Upon information and belief, one of the recordings is of a child performing a sexual act on Caraway in a school bathroom while he recorded the act on his cell phone.
- Upon information and belief, the obscene recordings on Carraway’s phone range from eight-second clips to videos running over a minute.
- Upon information and belief, the recordings have been made since at least early 2015 and continued until Caraway’s arrest on February 4, 2016.
- At all times relevant to this complaint, Caraway acted as an agent of the Board and this status and position of influence, control, and authority conferred by the Board permitted, facilitated, enabled, and caused this conduct to occur. Specifically, during the school day and on school property, the Board gave Caraway access to elementary age students, including John Doe. The Board gave Caraway a position of influence over these students, including John Doe. The Board gave Caraway control of these students and permitted Caraway to have and use his authority as a teacher’s assistant to remove students from classrooms, transport the students to bathrooms, auditoriums, or other locations on school property, and perpetrate this sexual abuse during the school day, which he documented by recording these acts.
- Carraway’s abuse was common knowledge among the students at Sylvania Woods
Elementary School.
- Parents and teachers at Sylvania Woods Elementary School had expressed concern and/or raised issues about Carraway’s predatory behavior to Principal Michelle Williams, but she took no action.
- Principal Williams refused to take any action because she claimed the teachers had “no proof” of Caraway’s actions.
- Upon information and belief, the administration knew or should have known about Caraway’s predatory conduct, but Principal Williams and the Board failed to remove him from the school in a timely manner.
- Upon information and belief, agents of the Board failed to promptly report these concerns in violation of Maryland law with respect to promptly reporting sexual abuse as required by Md. Code, § 5-704 of the Family Law Article. F.L. § 5-704 requires educators, among others, to notify the appropriate authorities “as soon as possible” and submit a “written report” within 48 hours if the educator has “reason to believe that a child has been subjected to abuse or neglect.”
- On or about February 5, 2016, as a result of this criminal sexual child abuse, Caraway was arrested and charged with ten counts of felony child pornography in violation of Md. Code, § 1 1-207 of the Criminal Law Article, one count of sexual abuse of a minor in violation of Md. Code, § 3-602 of the Criminal Law Article, and one count of second-degree sex offense in violation of Md. Code, § 3-306 of the Criminal Law Article. See State v. Deonte Lavell
Carraway, Case No.: 5E00605015 (District Court of Maryland for Prince George’s County).
- As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ actions, Plaintiffs suffered damages, including but not limited to, emotional harm and distress, emotional trauma, humiliation, embarrassment, loss of privacy, mental pain and suffering, fright, nervousness, indignity, and insult. Plaintiff John Doe will require psychological counseling and other treatment as a result of this abuse.