UPDATE: Newberry Education First board member denied bail at first appearance hearing
NEWBERRY, Fla. (WCJB) - An Alachua County judge ordered a Newberry Education First board member to be held without bond at a first appearance hearing Friday morning.
Joel Searby, 43, was booked into the Alachua County Jail on Thursday on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior, communication to lure a minor, communication to travel to meet a minor, and using a communication device to commit a felony. According to the arrest report, he solicited sex from an underage boy on Snapchat.
Searby was one of the people leading the charge to attempt to convert Newberry public schools into charter schools.
The arrest report from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office transcribes a conversation that started on Wednesday between Searby and the victim on the messaging app Snapchat. In the message chain, Searby asked the 15-year-old if he has ever had a crush on an older man and then describes a sexual encounter he had as a teen with an adult man.
Searby sent the boy multiple photos of himself with his face obscured, including a photo of his hand in his pants. He then invited the boy to visit his home the next morning, secretly.
He suggested the victim should sneak out and go to Searby’s guest house. He would send the boy a text asking him to go over to help with yard work as an excuse for his parents.
“Evidence is pretty damning, and it’s scary for me as a parent,” shared parent Brandy Oldman.
On Thursday morning, law enforcement took over the boy’s account and continued the conversation with Searby. He confirmed the meet-up for “yard work” and a detective pretending to be the victim asked if they would be “jerking off” or something more.
Searby replied to the victim’s account, “I would like to do more but we can take it one step at a time and if I start doing anything you don’t want to do we can stop. I’ll walk you through it.”
Detectives then executed a search warrant at Searby’s home on Southwest 170th Street and he was taken into custody. Searby invoked his right to remain silent. He was booked into the Alachua County Jail and his bond has yet to be set.
Searby was on the Newberry Education First board and represented the charter school campaign group in interviews with the media, including TV20.
“If they would’ve got their way with these votes he could be in these schools around our kids, and a lot of kids won’t come forward,” Oldman said.
The Newberry City Commission recently selected members to oversee Newberry Elementary School after they claimed victory in the charter school election. Searby was not appointed to that board.
“In this small town like you don’t expect it to happen here,” shared Oldman.
In addition to the charter school initiative, Searby has worked as a conservative political consultant, a member of New Way Politics, a pastor, and a basketball coach at Oak View Middle School.
“I’m really just praying for the victims and their families and Joel’s family, and I hope that they all get some peace eventually out of this because this is heinous,” Oldman said.
Officials with Newberry Education First posted this quote to their Facebook in response to Searby’s arrest:
Newberry City Commissioner, Tim Marden shared a statement with TV20:
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