Del. School counselor John Arnold charged with child rape

Suspect attempted suicide by overdosing on prescription drugs

The police investigation, which began on July 1, triggered self-destructive behavior in Arnold, the arrest warrant states.

First, he went to the district police headquarters and calmly denied ever having abused the child, the arrest warrant states.

But on July 3, Arnold was scheduled to visit his family in Maryland. When he failed to arrive, police were notified and directed to an Instagram account of his that contained a picture of “a man who appeared to shoot himself in the head,” the arrest warrant states.

Police found Arnold at a Delaware hotel, and he denied that the social media account was his or that he was suicidal. He was “finally exonerated through a remote investigation” and returned to his hotel room.

However, on July 6, a Brandywine County employee told police she was concerned for his safety because of unspecified comments he had made. State police searched for Arnold and found him in the Concord Mall parking lot, about two and a half miles from his home. Police also learned he had contacted a crisis hotline and stated he was “actively trying to kill himself.”

Arnold told police he had intended to shoot himself but instead “took dozens of prescription drugs.” He was taken to Wilmington Hospital and later sent to Christiana Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, the warrant states.

Police continued their rape investigation and monitored the 5-year-old’s forensic interview on July 9 with the Children’s Advocacy Center, which helps with child abuse cases. The child’s statement was consistent with what she had said days earlier at the camp and at Nemours Hospital, the warrant said.

She told the interviewer at the advocacy center that Arnold had touched her sexually “many times” and later clarified that this had happened “ten hundred times,” the arrest warrant states.

“We now understand why the bail is one million dollars”

Superintendent Lawson knew only basic information about Arnold’s arrest and charges until Monday, when a WHYY News reporter gave her a copy of the arrest warrant police received on July 10.

After reading several pages, Lawson said she was “appalled” by the allegations against a man who has served as a trusted district psychologist for nearly three years. Lawson said the district conducted a thorough background check on Arnold before hiring him and no abnormalities were found before or during his tenure.

“We are absolutely shocked at the detailed information” in the warrant, Lawson said in an interview. “We now understand why the bail is $1 million, when we had absolutely no information about any of this before.”

She said the district is in the process of taking appropriate disciplinary action.

“We are deeply concerned about the impact this will have on both the staff” at Arnold “and our families, one of whom I spoke to this weekend is very upset that someone in a position of trust, who they relied on not only for their children’s therapy but also helped the family themselves, to come together.”

She also described her office’s efforts to reach out to the families, including posting a notice about Arnold’s arrest on Brandywine’s Facebook page.

“We personally called every single family in the program as soon as we learned of the circumstances,” Lawson said. “We wanted the families to be able to handle the situation with their own children as they saw fit. Many of them then went and talked to their children.”

“We currently have no information that what allegedly happened to the victim happened to any of our students in the district.”

Before moving to Delaware, Arnold worked for Counseling Associates of America in Naples, Florida.

Jennifer Jankowski, the practice’s director of operations, said in an email that officials there “are appalled by these heinous allegations and are deeply saddened for the family and young girl involved. We only recently received this information and are currently reviewing our internal records as he has not worked at Counseling Associates of America for several years.”

New Castle County Police are asking anyone with additional information to contact Det. Daniel Watson at [email protected] or (302) 395-8030.