Arrest warrant details ‘horrific’ child sexual abuse allegations against Delaware elementary school therapist

As an emotional support specialist in Delaware’s Brandywine School District since 2021, psychologist John Ervin Arnold has counseled dozens of young girls and boys who have experienced trauma or have other behavioral issues.

Arnold, who lives in the suburban Wilmington neighborhood of Fairfax, worked first at Mount Pleasant Elementary School and then at Lombardy Elementary. In recent weeks he’s been working in Brandywine’s summer school program at Claymont Elementary.

District Superintendent Lisa Lawson said this week there have been no problems or issues in Brandywine schools with Arnold, whose annual salary is $102,000.

But away from the classroom, according to a police arrest affidavit obtained by WHYY News, young girls in Arnold’s family say he has sexually abused them over the years. And this month, while police investigated a 5-year-old Delaware girl’s heinous accusations against him, Arnold tried to kill himself and was treated at Christiana Hospital’s psychiatric unit, the warrant said.

Arnold, 47, now faces several felony charges for alleged crimes against the girl, including first- and second-degree rape.

The suspect, who grew up in western Maryland and practiced psychology privately in Florida, has been detained on $1.05 million cash bail since Friday at the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington.

The warrant said the 5-year-old victim had reported inappropriate sexual behavior by Arnold more than two years earlier. She was examined then by a physician and a psychologist, but Arnold told the doctors that it was the toddler who had touched him inappropriately, and the medical reports concluded the girl had a “behavioral issue,” so police were not notified, the warrant said.

That changed July 1, when the girl was at day camp and made startling accusations about Arnold during a discussion on “good touches and bad touches,” the warrant said.

Police and state child abuse investigators were immediately notified, and the girl was examined at Nemours Children’s Hospital near Wilmington, where she repeated the accusations, the warrant said.

That investigation led to the disclosure by the girl’s mother about the child’s previous claims and that Arnold was suspected of molesting another relative several years earlier in Florida. A New Castle County police detective later interviewed that woman, who is now in her early 20s, and she reported similar acts of abuse by Arnold when she was a young child, alleging that he told her, “Don’t tell anyone, this is our secret.”

That woman also told the detective that two other female relatives had told her that Arnold had sexually abused them when they were children and he lived in Cumberland, Maryland, the warrant said.

Arnold has not been charged with any crimes against those women. He told Delaware police the woman from the alleged incidents in Florida “made this up to distract from bad behavior at the time that resulted in police contact.”

Arnold also denied any abuse against the 5-year-old Delaware child, the warrant said, and told the detective he was well-aware that if had raped the child, he “would go to prison for the rest of his life.”

Arnold also told police he realized that a 5-year-old child wouldn’t have knowledge of sexual acts or male anatomy, but said the child had “walked in on him while he was taking a bath” and that a boy at her preschool had exposed himself to the class.

Suspect tried to take life with prescription pill overdose

The police investigation that began July 1 triggered self-destructive behavior in Arnold, the warrant said.

First he went to county police headquarters and calmly denied ever abusing the child, the warrant said.

But July 3, Arnold was supposed to be visiting family in Maryland. When he didn’t arrive, police were notified and directed to an Instagram account of his that contained an image of “what appeared to be a male shooting himself in the head,” the warrant said.

Police found Arnold at a hotel in Delaware and he denied that the social media account was his or that he was suicidal. He was “ultimately cleared via a remote mental evaluation” and returned to his hotel room.

On July 6, however, a Brandywine district co-worker told police she was concerned for his safety from unspecified comments he had made. State police searched for Arnold and found him in the parking lot of Concord Mall, about two and a half miles from his home. Troopers also learned that he had contacted a crisis hotline and reported he “was actively attempting to kill himself.”

Arnold told troopers he had intended to shoot himself but instead “took dozens of prescription pills.” He was taken to Wilmington Hospital and later sent to Christiana Hospital for a mental health evaluation, the warrant said.

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

She told the interviewer at the advocacy center that Arnold had touched her sexually “a lot of times” and later clarified that it had occurred “ten hundred times,” the warrant said.

‘We understand now why it’s a million dollars bail’

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

After reading several pages, Lawson said she was “horrified” by the accusations against a man who for nearly three years has been a trusted district psychologist. Lawson said the district had conducted a thorough background check on Arnold before his hiring, and no flags were detected before or during his tenure.

“We are absolutely shocked at the detailed information” in the warrant, Lawson said in an interview. “We understand now why it’s a million dollars bail and we had absolutely no prior information related to any of this.”

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

“We are deeply concerned for the effect that this will have on both staff” with Arnold, “but also our families, including one of whom I spoke to this weekend, that are very upset that someone in a position of trust that they not only counted on for their children’s therapy, but also helped the family unit themselves.”

She also described her office’s outreach to families, which included a notice on Brandywine’s  Facebook page about Arnold’s arrest.

“We made personalized phone calls to every single family in the program as soon as we learned of the circumstances,” Lawson said. “We wanted families to be able to handle the situation as they deem appropriate with their own children. Many have in turn gone and spoken to their children.

“We don’t have any information at this time that what has allegedly occurred with the victim has occurred with any of our district students.”

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

Jennifer Jankowski, the practice’s operations director, 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 recently received this information and are currently reviewing our internal records, as it has been numerous years since he worked at Counseling Associates of America.”

New Castle County police urge anyone with additional information to contact Det. Daniel Watson at Daniel.Watson@newcastlede.gov or (302) 395-8030.