Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Christopher Charles Chell, 46, a former Athletic Director and Physical Education teacher at St. Patrick’s Interparish School, has been sentenced on two of the original 20 charges related to improper relationships with juvenile girls at the school; after Chell entered a plea of nolo contendere to battery with a prior conviction and soliciting a romantic relationship as an authority figure, Judge David Kreider ordered adjudication of guilt withheld and sentenced him to 195 days in jail with credit for 195 days served, followed by five years of probation. The remaining charges were dropped.
Chell, the Athletic Director and a Physical Education teacher at the school, was initially arrested on March 7 after a middle school student reported that Chell had initiated a romantic relationship with her. Additional charges alleged that Chell engaged in inappropriate behavior with at least five juvenile victims. He was originally charged with 10 counts of lewd/lascivious behavior on a child between 12 and 16 years old, and additional charges were filed via sworn complaint: five counts of solicitation of lewd conduct with a student by an authority figure, lewd/lascivious molestation of a child between 12 and 16 years of age, solicitation of a romantic relationship with a student by an authority figure, and child abuse without great bodily harm. Chell was never booked on some of the charges, and all but two were later dropped. He was held without bail until the case was resolved today.