Previous Investigation Involving Accused Teacher Confirmed; Pbso Says Stephen Budd Accused Ex-wife of Child Abuse

By Alexandra Seltzer
Palm Beach Post
April 5, 2013

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/palm-beach-diocese-we-havent-received-reports-of-a/nXDcb/

Budd

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The state Department of Children and Families confirmed Friday that they have previously investigated a case involving the Palm Beach County teacher accused of giving out candy for sexual acts to former students.

DCF does not comment on past investigations.

Stephen Budd, 51, the man accused of sexual battery during the 2006-07 school year when he was a teacher at Rosarian Academy in West Palm Beach, has no criminal history in neither Florida, nor the Pennsylvania county he grew up in.

A DCF spokeswoman could only say that the previously investigated case involving Budd “was not recent.”

A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s spokeswoman did say that deputies investigated a complaint made my Budd in October 2006 when he accused his ex-wife of child abuse. Budd reported to deputies that she choked their youngest daughter, who was 16 at the time. No arrests were made in that case.

Calls were placed Friday to numerous police agencies in the county, but it appears Budd, a divorced father of three adult women, has never been accused of anything that may have resulted in an arrest.

West Palm Beach Police declined to comment on any possible past investigations involving Budd. A spokesman said they have not received any new tips of sexual allegations involving Budd since his arrest Wednesday at his West Palm Beach apartment.

Budd remains in the Palm Beach County Jail and faces numerous criminal charges including sexual battery. A former student of his while he was a 4th-grade teacher at Rosarian Academy School told West Palm Beach Police that during the 2006-07 school year, Budd used to give her and another student candy — which she said was described as “Budd bucks” — in exchange for sexual acts.

The students would receive the “Budd bucks” at the private Catholic school in West Palm Beach and would take naked pictures of themselves and give them to Budd. They’d also perform sexual acts on each other for his pleasure, according to a city police probable-cause affidavit.

The allegations against Budd surfaced when the former student allegedly received a message from Budd on Facebook. She then told her parents about the abuse. The teenager said that she and another former student engaged in a pact and didn’t want anyone to know of what was happening in the classroom.

DCF spokeswoman Paige Patterson-Hughes said they opened a new investigation into Budd this week. while living in Florida Budd has resided mostly in Palm Beach County.

West Palm Beach Police Chief Vince Demasi on Thursday called Budd a “serial offender” and said he was confident that more people will come forward.

Representative from schools Budd was employed at over the past two decades said they were surprised to hear that the teacher was accused of such actions.

A representative from the Diocese of Palm Beach, which oversees St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Riviera Beach, said they have not received any reports of allegations against Budd.

St. Francis was a private Catholic school that fell under the jurisdiction of the Diocese. Budd was there from 1996-2002 as a second-grade teacher who also ran the summer camp and was the school’s sole bus driver. The school closed in 2005 and now only a church remains. A volunteer with the church said no one remaining at the church would know Budd.

Budd was a parishioner at St. Therese de Lisieux Catholic Church in Wellington and even gave a speech about spirituality in the summer of 2004 . He also was a volunteer at St. Luke Catholic Church in Palm Springs in the late 1990s.

“The Diocese of Palm Beach will fully cooperate with legal authorities in their investigation of this matter and will notify the parish communities of St. Luke and St. Francis of Assisi of these reported allegations,” a statement released by a Diocese spokeswoman said. “The diocese encourages any victims of abuse to contact the local police department….Our prayers are with the students and the families involved.”

In 2003 a Palm Beach Post reporter interviewed Budd about Bishop Gerald Barbarito coming to the Diocese of Palm Beach following a time of sex scandals involving bishops Anthony O’Connell and J. Keith Symons.

Budd told the reporter that he believes some people still have a “wary eye” about the church because “the potential for sexual abuse still looms in the diocese.”

Budd’s personal website includes postings quoting scripture and he describes personal struggles growing up, mentioning his divorce. He grew up in Pennsylvania before moving to Palm Beach County.

Rosarian Academy, where the victims said the sexual abuse happened, is not sponsored by the Diocese of Palm Beach, but officials at the school did request the Diocese to send a Crisis Management Response Team, a team of counselors and psychologists, to provide additional assistance to the school on Friday.

Budd is currently a teacher at South Tech Academy in Boynton Beach. Since 2008, he has worked with adult “higher functioning” special education students at the charter school. South Tech founder Jim Kidd said Budd will not be back with the students until the matter is resolved. The school did a background check on him in 2008 which came back clear, he said.

Charter schools, including South Tech, are public schools run by private governing boards. Charter school employees require the same background checks and credentials as employees at traditional public schools. The Palm Beach County School District runs fingerprinting and background checks for charter school employees in the county.

Budd has also taught at Delray Youth Vocational High School, another charter school, which is now known as Tomorrow’s Promise Community School. Principal Marjorie Waldo said Budd worked at the school during the 2007-2008 school year.

“He received district clearance. There was no indication of prior history,” Waldo said. “While here, there was no indication of any sexual misconduct.”

Waldo said Budd came to the school with “a lot of diverse experience that made him eligible to work with older kids.”

She said that, after the first year, she did not renew his contract, but said it had “nothing to do with anything sexual.”

Before working at the schools, Budd was a staff therapist at Renaissance Institute in Boca Raton

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 458-TIPS. Anyone who needs counseling can call the Diocese of Palm Beach (561) 801-0999.