The principal of a central Florida elementary school was arrested this week and accused of holding a child in a room for 40 minutes, strangling him and hitting him with a charging cable.
Dontay Akeem Prophet, 33, who was principal of Destiny Leadership Academy in Ocala, was arrested Saturday on charges of aggravated child abuse and false imprisonment of a child under 13 years of age, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.
Since then, Profeta has been fired, the private school told Orlando’s NBC affiliate WESH.
The prophet has pleaded not guilty, court records show.
A judge denied a request to hold him in pretrial detention on Tuesday, and bail was set at $50,000, according to records.
Profeta was in custody Wednesday night, jail records showed.
According to the sheriff’s office, Prophet claimed he confined the child to prevent harm to her, which investigators do not believe.
He told investigators he was afraid to let the boy leave the classroom because he indicated he would hurt himself, WESH reported. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Valerie Strong told the station that Prophet “began touching the child and pushing him, and that’s when he began physically abusing the child.”
The sheriff’s office alleged that security video showed Prophet preventing the boy from leaving the classroom for about 40 minutes and that Prophet slapped him, choked him and beat him with a charging cable.
An attorney listed as representing the Prophet did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
