09/04/2021 17:26
Clarín.com
International
USA
Updated 09/04/2021 17:26
An Alaskan school district that continued to employ a predatory elementary school principal despite allegedly being "well aware of his' girl issues"
agreed to pay $ 3.8 million to two of his victims.
Christopher Carmichael
, 57, a former principal at Gladys Jung Elementary School in Bethel, was arrested in December 2019.
He was detained after the local FBI Child Exploitation Task Force
caught him sending sexually explicit messages to someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl during an undercover investigation.
The affidavit said he
admitted to FBI agents that he was sexually attracted to children
, "particularly children who are beginning puberty."
During the investigation, it was discovered that Carmichael
had sexually abused a former student for several months
while he was in seventh grade.
On several occasions, the abuse occurred on the school grounds during visits to his former elementary school.
In November 2020, the disgraced educator pleaded guilty to federal charges of attempted coercion and seduction of a minor.
In April 2021, he pleaded guilty to separate state charges of sexual abuse of a minor.
He is currently serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison
and will spend the rest of his life on supervised release.
The cases
Bethel
is a city near Anchorage, Alaska, with one of the highest sex crime rates in the country.
Horror stories of sexual abuse are common in that rural area, and it's no wonder Alaska has a history of failures in protection and justice for its victims.
And this elementary school principal is a great example of that.
According to the local
Anchorage Daily News
, since 2016, parents had already complained about this
sex offender
to local police.
Even despite the allegations, Carmichael was allowed to work in the Lower Kuskokwim School District because the criminal charges were initially not resolved.
Then an FBI officer used one of a victim's Facebook accounts to pretend to be the student, leading
the teacher to believe it was the girl.
According to the local Anchorage Daily News, since 2016, parents had already complained about this sex offender to local police.
The "victim" then contacted the principal with another girl, a "13-year-old cousin who was having problems with her family in Anchorage," setting the trap.
This "13-year-old cousin" was actually an undercover FBI agent, and the director went down.
Carmichael texted her saying he wanted to meet her, describing the sexual acts he wanted to do with her and warning the "victim" to "keep referring to herself as being 18 so she doesn't get in trouble."
He also said during a recorded phone call,
"I love you exactly how you are and exactly how old you are," and asked both girls to call him "daddy,"
according to the charges.
After being arrested on December 11, 2019, Carmichael told FBI agents that he was especially attracted to "girls beginning puberty," and
admitted that he began sexual relationship and communication with the two girls, aware of that they were minors.
What's even scarier is that Carmichael was praised as a beloved director when he came to Bethel in 2014.
The investigation began in 2016
when a mother saw an exchange on Facebook between her 14-year-old daughter and Carmichael that was totally inappropriate.
However, after finding no illegal pictures and only finding the text messages, the former Bethel director
only received an administrative license at the time
, returning after police were unable to charge him with sexual exploitation of a child.
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