Report: Boy accused of assault relative of assistant principal

The boy whose alleged assault of a 15-year-old girl at Palm Beach Central High led to the arrests of five high-ranking officials earlier this week is a close relative of one of the school’s assistant principals, according to a law enforcement report.

Assistant Principal Daniel Snider was one of the five school officials arrested on Monday.

The school refused to provide the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office detectives with records about the assault without a subpoena, according to the report, while a school police officer told detectives that he was a close friend of Snider’s, and that the boy was a “good kid from a good family.”

Principal Darren Edgecomb, Assistant Principals Snider and Nereyda De Garcia, chorus teacher Scott Houchins, and the Wellington school’s behavioral therapist, Priscilla Carter, were arrested Monday on charges of failing to report the sexual assault of the student to the Department of Children and Families, as required under Florida law.

Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office Detective Lisa Alvarez had met with the girl in August 2021 about the assault that occurred in

April 2021, the report says.

The girl told Alvarez that her parents had dropped her and her friend off at Lake Worth Beach. They met up with two boys, one of whom was the suspect, who the girl had been dating for about a week. The four split

Snider

into two pairs.

The boy told the girl that he wanted to engage in a manual sex act with her, which she allowed under a towel on the beach. Throughout the day, he continued to ask to do so, and she continued to say no, according to the report. He would forcibly reach for her, and she would push him away.

The girl’s friend later told her that she had watched what had happened, according to the report, and that the girl “had a sad look on her face.”

When all four were sitting on a bench near the pier, waiting for their parents to pick them up, “he became more forcible,” the report states, and proceeded to perform the sex act under the towel with his hand as she continued to tell him no.

Her friend told detectives that the girl had been “actively fighting him and pushing his hand away.”

Soon after, his mother arrived to pick him up, according to the report, and he walked away without saying goodbye.

Two days later, the girl got a text from the boy’s mother, saying she had found pictures of the girl on his phone “that she did not like,” and that the two were no longer allowed to speak to each other or date, according to the report. They never talked again.

Afterwards, the girl told detectives that she became depressed and began to self-harm, the report says.

In June 2021, just before the end of the school year, another student at the school who was a friend to the girl wrote a letter about the girl being sexually assaulted, voicing concern for her mental health, according to the probable cause affidavit. She gave the letter, handwritten in pink ink, to Houchins, the chorus teacher. He never reported it to DCF.

Carter then called the girl’s mother, mentioning the girl’s thoughts of suicide, but not the sexual assaults.

Later that summer, while on a school function in Washington, D.C., the girl attempted suicide and was hospitalized for three days.

In August, the girl told another friend at school about the assault, according to the report. The friend then went up to Snider while he was standing with Edgecomb and told him that his relative “assaulted one of my friends,” according to the report. He told her to turn in an incident statement, which she did, and he said he would give it to Edgecomb.

Edgecomb then called the friend into his office and asked her to clarify “sexually harassed vs. sexually assaulted,” according to the report.

The next day, the victim was called to the main office to provide her own statement, according to the affidavit. In the statement, she described how the boy continued to assault her while she said “no” repeatedly. The statement was taken by Assistant Principal De Garcia and given to Edgecomb. No one reported the assault to DCF.

When detectives later asked Snider if he knew he was a mandatory reporter, he said he did, but because the incident involved a relative, he turned the information over to Edgecomb.

When Alvarez requested the s t a t e me n t s from students about the assault, Edgecomb denied t he request, saying that she would have to give him a subpoena, according to the report. She then submitted a public records request.

After the request, the report says, Alvarez received a call from Lt. James Schnaderbeck, a school police officer, who told her that he was personal friends with Snider, that the boy was “a good kid, from a good family,” and he didn’t want to be involved because of the personal conflict.

She told him that the case was under the jurisdiction of the Palm Beach Sheriff ’s Office, but asked if he could send her a copy of the statements, according to the report. He said he would check with his colleagues and never responded.

It is unclear whether Schnaderbeck still works at the school. The district did not respond to questions about his employment Friday, and a voicemail left with Schnaderbeck was not returned.

Alvarez also received an email from Todd Weicholz, who represented the Snider family, saying, “I can assure you that no assault occurred, but rather an older female tried to have a sexual relationship with my client and became insulted when he wouldn’t agree to the relationship.”

Weicholz declined to comment when contacted by the Sun Sentinel earlier this week. A message left with Snider’s attorney,

Leonard Feuer, was not returned Friday.

In a meeting with the girl’s parents, Edgecomb said that he had conducted his own investigation into the assault and would not share his findings.

He said he did not contact law enforcement or DCF because he “felt that a sexual assault did not occur, based on his investigation,” according to the affidavit.

Edgecomb also said in the meeting that he had met with the instructional superintendent, Karen Whetsell, who also did not report the assault, according to the report.

All staff have been reassigned to positions that do not have student contact, Palm Beach County School District spokesperson Angela Cruz Ledford said in a statement Tuesday.

It remains unclear what those positions are and whether they will retain the same salaries. The school district has not yet responded to questions asked Tuesday about the reassignments.

Reggie Myers has since replaced Edgecomb as interim principal.

Edgecomb currently makes over $150,000, while Garcia makes over $120,000 and Snider makes over $110,000, according to personnel records.