ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Editor's note: The contents of this story may be disturbing to some.
A St. Johns County jury found a former Chappell Schools employee guilty on 16 counts of child sex crimes after hours of deliberation Wednesday.
Anthony Guadalupe was charged with 22 counts of child sexual abuse related to acts committed during his time at the daycare in 2022, some of which prosecutors say were captured on classroom livestream video.
The jury found Guadalupe guilty on 12 counts of lewd and lascivious molestation, one downgraded charge of attempted lewd and lascivious molestation and three counts of an unlawful and lascivious act, which is a lesser charge. Guadalupe was found not guilty on six counts of child sex crimes.
A sentencing date has not yet been set.
The daycare issued the following statement after Wednesday's verdict:
“Chappell Schools respects the jury’s verdict and hopes it will bring some closure to all involved,” said Chappell Schools CEO Suzanne Beevers.
Guadalupe faced a minimum of 103 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Guadalupe was charged after parents claimed he inappropriately touched their children at Chappell Schools in St. Johns County while employed there. Guadalupe, then 18, was arrested in July 2022 for several of the assaults that happened between May 26, 2022, and July 18, 2022.
Prosecutors argued classroom surveillance footage showed a “brazen” assault on a 4-year-old child by Guadalupe.
During testimony on Tuesday, multiple parents, the daycare's director and a special victims investigator took the stand. Guadalupe, himself, did not testify during the trial.
Classroom livestream video was shown in court, where Guadalupe was seen interacting with several different children.
The lead detective said after reviewing the videos, she determined multiple of Guadalupe's actions were inappropriate. She pointed to a video of Guadalupe appearing to pat students' genital area, lifting children up against his groin area and bouncing others on his lap.
At one point in the video, the detective said, a child's underwear is pulled down.
"I would say there is really no explanation of a girl's pants being down," the detective testified.
The prosecution argued there is "absolutely no legitimate reason for him [Guadalupe] to be doing that," as more videos of the assaults were shown on Wednesday.
The prosecutor pointed to several instances in the videos that showed Guadalupe pulling away from the students he was interacting with as teachers and parents entered the room.
However, Guadalupe's defense argued there could be an "innocent explanation" for the actions viewed in the videos.
He said Guadalupe was playing with the children while they were bouncing on his lap, and argued he believed Guadalupe was actually touching the children's stomach or lower thigh, not their genital area.
"The state wants to say he gets a little too low, you don't see that, you see him [Guadalupe] tapping his [the student] belly, playing the drums on him," the defense said during closing arguments.
"The cameras don't lie. You can see for yourself what he did," the prosecutor argued.
"Look at what you see him [Guadalupe] doing, not what the state assumes he's doing," Guadalupe's defense said. "I forgot to bring my x-ray glasses so I can see through walls and see through glass at what's happening."
Seven parents spoke in court on Tuesday, giving emotional testimony. All the parents who took the stand were involved in lawsuits against Chappell Schools and a majority have already received a settlement.
"We were very adamant that there needed to be accountability on behalf of the school as well and not just the individual," one parent testified.
The defense argued that the parents were pursuing charges out of greed and never called 911 to report Guadalupe.
Guadalupe initially pleaded guilty to 14 counts of child molestation in October 2023 but withdrew his plea months later.
He 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.
In March, Guadalupe underwent a psychological evaluation the same day his attorney filed a notice to the court that he planned to use an insanity defense. Guadalupe's attorney argued there were "reasonable grounds" to believe he was legally insane at the time the alleged crimes were committed, court documents show.
However, Guadalupe's attorney filed a motion last week withdrawing the intent to rely on an insanity defense during the trial, documents show.