UPDATE: Affidavit states Trinity School administrators failed to report sexual assault on campus

MIDLAND, Texas (KOSA) -UPDATE: The statement below was sent to parents of the school Friday afternoon.

“ Dear Trinity Community,

As many of you are aware, Midland police were on campus this morning to detain Head of School Shelby Hammer, Director of Admissions Adrianne Clifton, Head of Middle School Chrystal Myers, and Dean of Students Todd Freese in order to question them for failure to report abuse or neglect. I write this evening to let you know that the Board of Trustees and Administrative Leadership Team are aware of the situation and committed to navigating these difficult circumstances with the students’ best interest in mind.

As you may know, Shelby Hammer wrote to you recently to share information about Trinity’s child protection policies and protocols, including mandatory reporting. Mandatory reporting and student safety is taken very seriously at our school. While we cannot provide specific details given the active investigation, we can share that to the best of our knowledge, the matters in question occurred years ago and were reported to Child Protective Services. Please rest assured that we are continuing to cooperate with the authorities.

Tim Jones has been asked to serve as Acting Head of School. We are grateful to him, administrators, and the faculty and staff who continue to hold the welfare and safety of your children as their highest priority and who stepped up today to care for your children and ensure that their learning was uninterrupted.

We will continue to share information with you as best we can. ”

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According to Midland County Jail records, Trinity School administrators Todd Freese, Shelby Hammer, Chrystal Myers and Adrianne Clifton have been arrested and booked into Midland County Jail.

Todd Freese is the Dean of Students, Adrianne Clifton is the Director of Admissions and Assistant Head for Administration, Shelby Hammer is the Head of the School, and Chrystal Meyers is the Head of the Middle School.

On Friday, February 25, 2022, at around 11 A.M. the Midland Police Department arrested four administrators at Trinity School of Midland for failure to report with intent to conceal neglect or abuse.

Clifton has a bond of $5,000...she is the only one with a bond listed on the Midland County website.

According to an affidavit, the victim says she was sexually assaulted at the Trinity School from Sept to Dec 2019.

The affidavit says the victim’s friend told the Dean of Trinity school, Todd Freese what was happening on the date of the last incident in Dec 2019.

Court documents say Freese did not report the sexual assault to a state agency which is a violation of the Texas Family Code.

According to state law, all school employees are required to report abuse or neglect to law enforcement, CPS, or another state agency within 48 hours of the event.

Failure to report with the intent to conceal abuse or neglect is a felony if proven.

The affidavit explains the victim’s parents found out about the assault and set up meetings with school administrators. But none of the school administrators reported the assault.

The victim’s parents removed her from school in 2020 and according to the arrest affidavit, In September Shelby Hammer, the Head of the School, sent the parents a confidential waiver and release of all claims. If parents signed the agreement, a portion of the tuition paid to the school would be returned to the family.

In exchange, according to the court documents, the family would not pursue any legal litigation with the school and there would be no admission of liability or wrongdoing.

The parents did not sign the confidential waiver.

The investigation is ongoing.

CBS7 will update this story as more information is available.