A Louisiana pastor and religious school headmaster who is facing multiple charges for taping shut the mouths of five chatty 13-year-old students defended his actions and claimed the seventh-graders had bullied their teacher into tears.
John Raymond, 60, was arrested last Thursday and charged with three counts of cruelty to juveniles after the shocking incident at Lakeside Christian Academy in Slidell on March 18.
The former Survivor contestant took to the school’s website Monday to blame the young boys for his actions.
The pastor said the students ‘showed complete disregard’ by constantly interrupting their seventh-grade class with non-stop chatter, but none of the five students suffered physically, he said.
He added that he was left no choice but to take action after the teacher had walked into his office in tears and made threats to resign over the students’ behavior.
The students were then told to go to a hallway, where Raymond gave them two choices: To have tape on their mouths so they can remain silent, or to be suspended from the school, the statements said.
‘The students all chose tape and I pulled off one piece at a time and carefully placed it over their mouths making sure I did not touch their nose or interfere with their breathing,’ Raymond said. ‘At no time was tape wrapped around any student’s head.’
Pastor John Raymond, 60, founder of Lakeside Christian Academy in Slidell, Louisiana, said he taped Scotch tape onto the five troublesome students’ mouths after finding out that they had bullied their seventh-grade teacher. Pictured: Raymond’s mugshot after turning himself in over the weekend
Raymond, the school’s headmaster seen here on his appearance on the fifth season of Survivor in 2002, is facing three lawsuits from five of the teen’s parents
However, police disputed Raymond’s version.
‘Due to the fact the tape was wrapped around the students’ head, it had to be removed with a pair of scissors,’ Slidell Police stated. ‘During the encounter, the students claim they had trouble breathing and that the removal process was painful.’
The students all said that they didn’t suffer from any breathing problems, according to the pastor. The academy’s principal did eventually let Raymond know that she wasn’t ‘very comfortable’ with the measures he took.
The school has yet to discipline Raymond.
Parents of three of the five male students who were punished by the pastor have filed a lawsuit against the Raymond and the school.
‘The other two students have been attending school as usual,’ Raymond said. ‘Their parents are completely supportive of the discipline that took place. In fact, another one of these parents has since applied to work at our school and is now on staff.’
Around two weeks after the incident, cops received a complaint from the state’s department of family services and had an arrest warrant for Raymond, leading to the pastor turning himself in to local police.
Raymond defended the discipline he dished out, saying the tape was barely on the boys’ mouths for longer than 10 minutes before removing all of it.
‘We have a zero-tolerance bully policy at Lakeside,’ Raymond’s statement read. ‘This means students cannot bully each other or bully the teachers. We are serious about protecting both our students and our teachers,’ he said.
‘We love all of our students at Lakeside and strive to maintain a safe and effective learning environment. Building character in teenage boys can be difficult.’
The five students went back into class for a little less than an hour before another worker at the school ‘felt uncomfortable’ with the pastor’s form of punishment and took off the tape.
Police in the Louisiana town received a complaint from the state’s department of family services of potential abusive behavior at Lakeside Christian School (pictured) after the incident
Raymond was a contestant on the fifth season of Survivor, set in Thailand back in 2002. He was the first contestant voted off the island during the season
Raymond also ran for a state representative position in Louisiana as a Republican, as the pastor is a proud supporter of former President Donald Trump
Raymond was a contestant on the fifth season of Survivor, set in Thailand, in 2002. He was the first person voted off the island.
He also ran for a state representative position in Louisiana in 2018, proudly declaring himself a supporter of former President Donald Trump.
He also lists himself as the founding pastor of New Horizon Calvary Chapel and general manager of The Bridge Radio 88.7 FM on his LinkedIn page.
Raymond’s profession was listed as ‘pastor’ when he competed on Survivor.