Virginia Seaside Catholic college rocked by mother or father abuse allegations, priest reassignment
VIRGINIA BEACH — As dad and mom drove by means of the “drop-off lane” at St. John the Apostle Catholic College one morning final month, they had been approached by a lady carrying a stack of flyers.
The girl was the mom of a pupil on the personal college, and the paper she handed by means of their automotive home windows contained a warning that there had been a “pedophile” amongst them who’d assaulted “not less than” two feminine college students — together with her daughter.
The flyer named the alleged baby molester — a Navy pilot and father of three St. John’s college students — and knowledgeable dad and mom of a earlier baby intercourse assault case involving him. It additionally urged dad and mom of women who might have hung out on the household’s home to query them.
“I’m offering this info, as a result of if I had been made conscious of the primary expenses and court docket case, my daughter might have been saved three years of anguish,” the flyer mentioned.
“Everybody was speaking about it,” mentioned a father who obtained the flyer however didn’t need to be recognized due to the delicate nature of the allegations. “Some folks mentioned they knew the story, some had elements of the story, and a few had unhealthy info.”
It seems the person named within the flyer, 45-year-old Vincent Jakawich, was lifeless by the point it circulated. He’d pushed to North Carolina and brought his personal life a day or two earlier than, in response to a number of sources.
His loss of life got here as police had been beginning to — as soon as once more — examine allegations he’d sexually assaulted a younger feminine St. John’s pupil who was associates with one in all his daughters, in response to a spokeswoman for the Virginia Seaside Commonwealth’s Lawyer’s Workplace.
Jakawich’s physique was found shortly earlier than 9 a.m. Could 9 in his Tesla, which was parked on the shoulder of Route 168 in Currituck County. An officer driving by noticed the car and stopped to verify on it, mentioned Currituck County Sheriff’s Division Capt. Kevin McCord. Jakawich’s loss of life was dominated a suicide, McCord mentioned.
It didn’t take lengthy for issues to snowball after the flyer was distributed to St. John’s dad and mom the next day by fellow mother or father Meredith Hatchell.
In it, she wrote that Jakawich had molested not less than two college students whereas they had been visiting along with his daughters. She additionally supplied a hyperlink to on-line court docket details about when he was charged three years earlier with aggravated sexual battery of a kid youthful than 13, however was allowed to plead to a lesser cost.
Earlier than the day was over, the varsity despatched its personal letter to oldsters in regards to the allegations, and Jakawich’s widow, Marin, filed a felony criticism towards Hatchell, her as soon as shut buddy. Rather more fallout would come within the days and weeks that adopted.
Marin Jakawich wrote in her criticism that Hatchell had despatched display photographs of on-line court docket data involving her late husband to a number of folks, distributed letters calling him a pedophile on the college and of their neighborhood and got here to her home and verbally assaulted her and different members of the family.
“That is inflicting all of us excessive misery,” Marin Jakawich wrote. “Now we have left our dwelling for a secure place.”
5 days later, Hatchell was arrested and charged with a number of misdemeanors, together with harassment by pc, disorderly conduct, and trespassing, court docket data present. A cost of violating a protecting order would later be added. Hatchell’s husband, Tim, additionally was charged with utilizing a pc for harassment and violating a protecting order, however he wasn’t arrested, in response to the data.
A Justice of the Peace ordered Meredith Hatchell held with out bond, and she or he spent an evening in jail earlier than being launched. The case is scheduled for trial July 8 in Virginia Seaside Normal District Court docket.
The Hatchells’ legal professional, James Broccoletti, declined to remark, as did Kristin Paulding, a lawyer representing Marin Jakawich.
The fallout, nevertheless, didn’t cease with the felony expenses towards the Hatchells. Per week later, on Could 17, the Diocese of Richmond posted a notice on its website during which it addressed the claims and the way it was responding.
The diocese “just lately discovered of allegations of sexual abuse dedicated towards college students of St. John the Apostle College by an grownup (now deceased),” the publish mentioned. “The suitable civil authorities and regulation enforcement companies are concerned. The Diocese can be investigating to substantiate whether or not the Diocese’s Protected Surroundings rules or different insurance policies had been correctly adopted.”
The publish went on to say that Father Rob Cole — the longtime pastor of St. John the Apostle Church and faculty — was positioned on momentary go away whereas the matter was investigated. The varsity’s principal, Miriam Cotton, additionally was out, having determined to retire.
Lower than a month later, on June 12, the diocese posted another announcement during which it reported that Bishop Barry C. Knestout had “decided that St. John the Apostle parish would profit from new pastoral management. Fr. Rob Cole will not function pastor.”
“Bishop Knestout appreciates Fr. Cole’s dedication and repair because the pastor to this group for greater than 15 years,” the publish mentioned. “Whereas this choice and transition will probably be troublesome, the bishop appreciates the persistence and help of the group.”
A lot of St. John’s church group, nevertheless, was something however supportive of the bishop’s choice, mentioned Chris Magruder and Dom Raso, members of the church and its males’s rosary group.
Cole is beloved by the group, they mentioned, and lots of had been harm by the choice to take away him. In a time when many Catholic church buildings are shedding parishioners, St. John’s practically tripled in dimension throughout Cole’s tenure, rising from about 1,200 households when he arrived to three,300 as we speak, they mentioned.
The variety of adults who enroll in its yearlong Ceremony of Christian Initiation program to grow to be Catholics additionally grew, from a couple of half-dozen or so annually to about 40 to 50 now, the boys mentioned. Church services had been expanded and improved, and the variety of ministries serving the group elevated to greater than 70, they mentioned.
“It simply didn’t make sense,” Magruder, 31, a member of the parish for the previous 5 years, mentioned of how issues had been dealt with by the diocese. “There was so little info, we didn’t know what to assume.”
The lack of know-how was not solely irritating, Magruder and Raso mentioned, parishioners additionally had been involved that it made it seem as if Cole had been concerned in wrongdoing or a cover-up. And it didn’t appear to be in alignment with the bishop’s promise to deal with abuse allegations “rapidly and transparently.”
“I’d say the choices made have been fast however actually not clear,” Magruder mentioned.
On their rosary group web site, the boys have requested parishioners to signal a doc in help of Cole, which by this week had garnered practically 700 signatures, Magruder mentioned. Lots of of letters even have been hand-delivered to the rectory the place Cole lives.
Cole didn’t reply to a message left for him on the church’s workplace final week. The diocese additionally didn’t reply to a request for extra info.
A father with kids at St. John’s college mentioned the response from dad and mom has been blended. Whereas many nonetheless help Cole and the principal, there are various who additionally agreed with the choice to switch them, he mentioned.
The daddy mentioned that whereas each had been properly appreciated and revered, when the households discovered that faculty officers knew Jakawich had been accused of assaulting a St. John’s pupil years in the past, they had been shocked and felt the varsity ought to have executed extra to verify it didn’t occur once more.
He additionally mentioned among the households he’s talked with consider the Jakawich household ought to have been requested to depart St. John’s as soon as college officers turned conscious of the allegations within the first incident, out of equity to the woman concerned — who initially stayed enrolled however later left — and to guard others.
Within the first case, Jakawich was charged in April 2021 on a felony depend of aggravated sexual battery of a sufferer youthful than 13. The cost was thought-about “aggravated” due to her age. The woman reported the abuse occurred in Could 2020, in response to court docket data.
Jakawich was arrested and launched on bond, with situations requiring he don’t have any contact with the sufferer and her household, steer clear of St. John’s, and don’t have any minor kids in his dwelling aside from his personal, the data state. When the sufferer later withdrew from the varsity, he sought to have the situations amended to permit him to go on the property and for his daughters to have the ability to have associates over to their home, however the court docket denied it.
An investigation by Little one Protecting Providers later concluded that the woman’s accusations had been unfounded, the data present. Prosecutors additionally had been involved with conflicting proof they’d obtained, and in consequence, provided Jakawich a plea deal to a lesser cost of misdemeanor assault and battery, mentioned Macie Allen, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Seaside Commonwealth’s Lawyer’s Workplace. The sufferer’s household agreed to the deal, she mentioned.
Jakawich pleaded responsible to the lesser cost in June 2022, was given a one-year suspended jail sentence and ordered to stay on good conduct for a 12 months.
The sufferer’s household knowledgeable the principal and Cole in regards to the allegations even earlier than Jakawich was charged, mentioned legal professional Kevin Biniazan, who’s representing the Hatchells in a possible civil lawsuit.
The woman continued to attend St. John’s for some time however later withdrew as a result of she and her household had been involved not sufficient was being executed to maintain her from operating into Jakawich, Biniazan mentioned.
The Hatchells’ daughter, now 12, has alleged that Jakawich assaulted her when she was 9, Biniazan mentioned. She advised her dad and mom Could 8, and so they contacted police that day, the lawyer mentioned. Jakawich’s physique was discovered the next day.
St. John’s parishioners had been just lately knowledgeable {that a} new pastor will take over in July, Magruder mentioned. The diocese has not but mentioned the place Cole will probably be reassigned.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
