OKEECHOBEE (FL)
CBS12 News [West Palm Beach, FL]
April 20, 2023
By Gershon Harrell
A high school pastor from the Okeechobee County School District was accused of being involved in a romantic relationship with a student.
Donny Raney, 36, was arrested on Tuesday and booked into the Okeechobee County Jail for violating Florida law by engaging in a romantic relationship with a student, says the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office.
In a heavily redacted arrest report from the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office, deputies found out about the relationship after the victim’s mother expressed concerns that her daughter may be involved in an inappropriate relationship with two teachers at Okeechobee County High School, Omar Ayala and Donny Raney.
According to the arrest report, the mother told deputies, she purchased the victim a new cell phone for college and while transferring over the phone’s contents she found “disturbing” messages between the victim and the two teachers.
Deputies said, in the report, they explained to the mom that with the victim being an 18-year-old no criminal charges could be filed against Omar, however, she could report Omar to the school board.
The mom told deputies of an incident that occurred in 2020 that involved the victim and Omar in 2020 while he was the coach of cross country team. However, deputies said the incident was found to to be non-criminal due to the fact that she was 18 at the time. The Okeechobee County School Board said that Omar could no longer coach any female sports, have girls in his classroom during lunch and could not interact with the victim, the arrest report reads.
The arrest report says, deputies did look into Raney as well but found no explicit communication between the victim and Raney prior to her being 18.
Deputies did interview Raney, the arrest report reads, but his statements are redacted throughout the arrest report.
The arrest report, says deputies interviewed the victim who said after she and Omar separated that she began to see other guys, one of them being the school’s pastor.
In the arrest report, the victim said she has known the pastor for a while because he was the high school preacher, she said, he had always been “really cool” to her. She said the two “just recently started talking.”
In addition to being a pastor at Okeechobee County High School Raney was a basketball coach for Yearling Middle School for the 2022-2023 school year, the arrest report reads. He has since been removed from the coaching and staff list for the future.
After evidence was gathered, it was determined Raney violated the state law by an “authority figure engaging in a romantic relationship with a student.”
Raney is being held on a $50,000 bond.