North Texas parents alert police after discovering sex offender worked at private school
Parents discover sex offender works at private school
Parents at a Haslet private school are withdrawing their children and demanding leadership changes after discovering the pastor’s son, a registered sex offender, was employed on campus.
HASLET, Texas - Some parents have already pulled their children out of the private Christian school because of the news.
Others are calling for an overhaul in the church and school's leadership because of their knowledge about the pastor's son and his status as a registered sex offender.
Concerns at Heritage Christian Academy
What we know:
The parents at Haslet Community Park came here for their children, not to play, but to express concern for their safety at Heritage Christian Academy. The school is a part of Heritage Baptist Church, led by Pastor Eric Crawford.
It recently came to light that the pastor's son, Caleb Crawford, is a convicted sex offender, and he's been working at the church and school as an independent contractor, according to his dad.
Registered sex offender employment
Dig deeper:
Ryan Gunderson and Dani Jo Gunderson discovered Caleb's history online.
"He's supposed to be in a position where he is taking care of the church members and the school members and all these kids in the school, and he is putting them all in harm’s way, or at least potential," said Gunderson.
According to online records, Caleb was indicted on charges of indecency with a child involving sexual conduct in 2016. The victim was a 12-year-old girl.
He went to jail, but it's unclear for how long. Another part of the sentence is that he's required to register as a sex offender for life.
Online, he's listed as a moderate risk level, which is defined by law as a moderate risk to re-offend.
"If someone would have told us about this four years ago, when we were looking to enroll, we would have never put our kids there," said Gunderson.
The Gunderson’s have three kids at the private Christian school. They've since pulled them out.
They alerted other parents, like Chris and Marlene Baily.
"As parents, we put them in a private school because we thought it'd be the safest place for them. We trusted them," said Marlene.
School leadership response
What they're saying:
The pastor declined an interview with FOX 4 and directed us to the statement posted on the school's Facebook page. The post shared that the son did not have any "responsibility" or "authority" over the students, and his employment has been terminated, effective immediately.
The Baily's met with the principal on Tuesday morning and learned that "a lot of the staff knew about this for a very long time" and if their kids are going to stay, they want the leadership to change.
"Our children should be number one, that should be the number one priority, not protecting your own child, who should not be around children," said Chris Baily.
Involving local police
What's next:
The parents told FOX 4 that they reached out to Fort Worth police for help, but Fort Worth police did not get back to FOX 4 about any possible involvement.
As far as we know, there have not been any reports of sexual misconduct at the school or any incidents involving Caleb Crawford.
FOX 4 reached out to Caleb for any comment or statement, but did not hear back.
The Source: Information in this article was provided by FOX 4's Amelia Jones.