Former Rare Staff
A former Maryland school aide and track coach is facing 119 charges after being accused of sexually assaulting several male students, “mostly middle schoolers and pre-adolescent students.”
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HIV-positive Carlos Deangelo Bell, 30, was indicted on Monday after authorities launched an six-month investigation into the allegations back in December. The probe was initiated after the parents of one of the victims found inappropriate text messages between Bell and their child and notified the police. During the investigation, authorities discovered pornography on Bell’s personal electronic devices, including images of him sexually assaulting children and a video of Bell having sex with a student inside of a classroom.
Bell, who was working as an instructional assistant at Stoddert Middle Shcool and as a track coach at La Plata High School, was removed from his positions with Charles County Public Schools at the time that the text messages were discovered. He told police that he was HIV-positive, and law enforcement is not aware of any victim who has contracted the virus. However, additional testing is expected.
“In an organization that is all about children, these allegations are horrifying,” Charles County school Superintendent Kimberly Hill said. “To our parents and our community, who put their faith and trust in us to safeguard their children, I apologize on behalf of Charles County Public Schools. Student safety is job one, and clearly we have work to do to make sure that this will never happen again.”
In total, Bell was charged with 12 counts of child sexual abuse, 38 counts of second-degree sex offence, 44 counts of filming child pornography, 2 counts of third-degree sex offense, 2 counts of second-degree assault, 2 counts of solicitation of a minor, 3 counts of transmitting or attempting to transmit HIV to another, 5 counts for displaying obscene matter to a minor, 5 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and distribution of marijuana. If convicted, he faces 1,500 years in prison.
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