March 31, 2025
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Twenty people who worked at the Chester Community Charter School were charged with using painful techniques to restrain children or failing to report it, the Delaware County district attorney's office said.
Twenty people who worked in the Chester Community Charter School have been charged in a child abuse case, the Delaware County district attorney's office said.
The charges are related to child abuse claims from 26 children in kindergarten through fifth grade who were enrolled in the school's Team Approach to Achieving Academic Success, a program for students facing academic and behavioral challenges, authorities said. Some of the defendants allegedly used "painful techniques" to physically restrain students, while others witnessed it and failed to report it, according to a release. Several of the people charged were contractors from a Chester-based third-party company called Peak Performers Staffing, the school said.
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The charges follow a Chester Township police investigation at the school's West Campus, located at 2730 Bethel Road in Chester, that launched after two parents complained to school officials in January that their children said they were afraid to go to school because they feared being placed in "holds" by school staff.
Investigators found that nine of the charged defendants punished students in the program by pinching them on pressure points near their necks and holding them in restraints, authorities said. They also allegedly threatened them with what students referred to as "shoulder work," which involved pinching students on pressure points near their necks, placing them in holds with their arms crossed in front of them, and applying a knee to their back until they were brought to the ground. Many instances of abuse were captured on surveillance camera, and the footage was obtained and reviewed by investigators.
Investigators also determined that none of the Peak Performers staff had the required training in crisis prevention techniques or in utilizing restraints. State guidelines also require any use of a "safety hold" to be reported, but none were reported in the school for 2024 — the year in which many of the instances of abuse took place, authorities said.
Chester Community Charter School terminated its contract with Peak Performers once school administrators learned that contractors were using "disciplinary methods which are strictly prohibited by the school," spokesperson Max Tribble said in a statement. Any CCCS employees who were accused of carrying out prohibited disciplinary methods were also terminated, and other employees who may have had knowledge of the situation were placed on leave pending further investigation, Tribble said. Three school employees have been charged as part of the investigation with failing to report abuse, and they've been suspended, he said.
"The health and safety of our students is always our top priority and that is why we acted quickly to ensure that students would not be further subjected to any unauthorized disciplinary methods," Tribble said. "It is also important to know that CCCS requires that every employee who has direct contact with children complete mandated reporter training. CCCS will continue to cooperate with any inquiry by local officials."
The nine people charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, simple assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child, and failure to report endangering the welfare of a child include: Raymond Harris, Kabree Daniels, Christian Denny, Martin Mincey, Harry Woodhouse, Amaru Mohammad, Leroy Campbell, Adrian Hospedale and Monica Griffin.
The other 11, charged with at least one count of failure to report the endangering the welfare of a child, include: Daemon Pierce, Don’Neisah King-Pierce, Arijah Clements, Cyrus Barlee, Neanne Edmonds, Breshonna Belgrave, Deja Bennett-Allen, Ryan Ridley, Maggie Moloney, Dahkeem Williams and Asia Pena.
All of the defendants are classified as mandated reporters of incidents of suspected child abuse under Pennsylvania law. None of the defendants are in custody yet, but several made arrangements to surrender Monday, according to the Delaware County district attorney's office.
"We send our children to school expecting the adults will keep them safe, not abuse them physically and emotionally," Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said in a release. "Our investigation showed some staffers physically abusing children while others sat passively and watched. All the adults charged are equally guilty in failing to protect these children, some as young as 5 years old."
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