Three staff members and a former staffer with the Summit School District (Frisco) have been indicted by a grand jury for failure to report child abuse, according to prosecutors.
The four failed to follow mandatory reporting requirements where child abuse was alleged, according to a news release from the Summit County District Attorney’s Office.
The four were identified Tuesday as: Summit Middle School (Frisco) Principal Greg Guevara, 45, of Breckenridge; Summit Middle School Counselor Maureen Flannagan, 48, of Kremmling; Human Resource Specialist Amanda Southern, 48, of Breckenridge; and former HR Director Grant Schmidt, 55, of Parker.
An indictment was issued Friday, and all four defendants “peaceably turned themselves in to law enforcement on their outstanding arrest warrants” on Monday or Tuesday. They were arrested on suspicion of failure to report child abuse or neglect, a misdemeanor.
“The mandatory reporting law in Colorado applies to a multitude of professions, including school
district employees,” the release said. Mandatory reporters in Colorado must immediately report suspected child abuse or neglect to the Department of Human Services, to law enforcement, or to the State Child Abuse Reporting
Hotline.
“Allegations of child abuse and neglect are taken very seriously by this office and by law enforcement,” said District Attorney Heidi McCollum, in the release. “Children are an invaluable and precious commodity to any community, and they should be protected by every mandatory reporter and every adult with the capacity to do so.”
All four defendants were given personal recognizance bonds in the amount of $500. The next scheduled court appearance in Summit County is April 19th.
In August, a physical education teacher at Summit Middle School, in Frisco, was arrested on investigation on multiple counts of sexual assault on a child, according to the sheriff’s office.
Leonard Alan Grams, 61, allegedly “engaged in unlawful sexual contact with the victims during class activities,” the sheriff’s office said in a new release at the time.
Grams who faces five felony counts of sex assault on a child and three felony counts of sex assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, pleaded not guilty in November, according to the Summit Daily.
A motions hearing is scheduled for Grams is scheduled on Thursday, according to court records. A jury trial is scheduled to start on April 26 in Summit County.
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