ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — *Editor's note: The contents of this story may be disturbing to some.
Testimony continued Tuesday for the former Chappell Schools assistant teacher charged with more than 20 counts of child sexual abuse.
Anthony Guadalupe faces multiple child molestation charges after parents claimed he inappropriately touched their children at the Chappell Schools. Guadalupe was arrested in July 2022, when he was 18 years old, for several alleged assaults that occurred between May 26, 2022, and July 18, 2022.
He pleaded guilty to 14 counts of child molestation in October 2023, but withdrew his plea months later. Guadalupe then pleaded not guilty to additional molestation charges, totaling more than 20 counts of lewd and lascivious molestation on a victim less than 12 years old.
Multiple parents, the lead special victims investigator and a former daycare director took the stand in court Tuesday to give testimony.
Several videos were shown in court from the classroom at Chappell Schools, where Anthony Guadalupe can be seen interacting with multiple different children.
The lead detective said that after reviewing the videos, she observed multiple actions she determined to be inappropriate including Guadalupe appearing to pat the genital areas of students, lifting children up against his groin area and bouncing others on his lap. She also says the video shows a child with her underwear pulled down.
Guadalupe’s defense however said there could be an innocent explanation for those actions. He argued that Guadalupe was playing with the children while bouncing them on his lap and that looking at the video he believes Guadalupe could be touching the child's stomach or lower thigh.
In another interaction where prosecutors say Guadalupe appeared to be looking down a child's pants, the defense argued that the boy was previously seen in the video patting his pants as if he had pooped himself and a conclusion could be made that Guadalupe was looking to see if the boy had done so.
All parents who took the stand were involved in lawsuits against Chappell Schools and a majority have already received a settlement.
Guadalupe’s defense claimed that the parents were pursuing charges out of greed and that they never called 911 to report Guadalupe.
The prosecution however allowed each parent to explain why they pursued charges. Many explained that they wanted to hold the school accountable.
The trial is expected to last until Friday. If convicted Guadalupe could face a minimum of 103 years in prison.