Gaywood assistant principal indicted for sexual abuse

Woods turned himself in to police Wednesday and will be arraigned within the next 30 days. No trial date has been set.

According to the indictment by a Prince George’s County grand jury, the alleged abuse began Dec. 15 and lasted until March 10.

Ivey declined to comment on specifics, saying only that the abuse occurred on school grounds.

‘‘There was sufficient corroboration to justify an indictment in this case,” he said.

John White, a spokesman for the county school system, said Woods was assigned to administrative duties away from children March 10 after allegations of inappropriate contact with the minor surfaced.

White said Wednesday that he was unable to comment on the nature of the allegations or the charges found in the indictment until Roger Thomas, the school district’s general counsel, sees the court documents.

‘‘As soon as the general counsel receives that information, that will allow us to proceed,” White said.

White said Woods would continue his desk job until the determination of the case.

White did say that it was a parent and a child at the school who first alerted the school district of the allegations.

‘‘It is because a child and a parent came forward that we were able to investigate this,” White said. ‘‘The school district will be encouraging parents and students to communicate with us about allegations of this nature in the future.”

Bonnie Bradley, a parent of a Gaywood student, said she was ‘‘shocked and saddened” to hear about the allegations.

‘‘It just goes to show you, you don’t really know who you are sitting next to,” Bradley said. ‘‘We cannot always be there with our children, but we would hope that we could trust the people that we leave them with.

‘‘You would think sending your child to school would be a safe place for them to learn and to grow, not a place to be harmed especially by an adult.”

Bradley said she was disappointed that as of Wednesday the school had not yet sent anything home to parents alerting them to the allegations.

‘‘I am upset that we the parents had to find this out by watching the news,” Bradley said. ‘‘The school did not send anything home to let the parents know what was going on.”

Dale Shama, a community activist who has donated money to the school, said Woods was someone who he knew well and respected.

‘‘I really believed in the guy,” Shama said. ‘‘It’s just such a shock to me. I’ve got to believe he’s innocent until proven guilty. ... I’m hoping this is a big mistake.”

Gaywood Principal Sonya Harris declined to comment.

E-mail Jonathan Stein at jstein@gazette.net.