Ocala principal arrested on child abuse, false imprisonment charges

The principal of a local private school was arrested May 11 and charged with felony aggravated child abuse and false imprisonment of a child under 13 in connection with an alleged incident in a classroom the day before.

Dontay Akeem Prophet, 33, of Ocala, principal of Destiny Leadership Academy was arrested on the charge and remained in the Marion County Jail as of Monday afternoon.

According to a Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, Dep. Ronald James Bailey responded to the school at 4790 N. U.S. Highway 441 on May 10 and contacted Lillie Tuggerson, a local pastor and owner of the school.

Tuggerson told Bailey she had seen surveillance video after the school’s secretary made her aware of the incident.

The secretary arrived and showed Bailey the video, which began at 11:34 a.m. and continued until 12:40 p.m., the report states.

The arrest report states the video shows Prophet “poking and grabbing” the victim who, at one point, falls to the ground and Prophet “falls on top of him” and then lifts him back to his chair and puts the victim in a “choke hold.”

“Prophet can be seen on camera using a charging cable to strike the child, causing the child to fall and sustain injuries. Additionally, Prophet twisted the child’s ankle, slapped the child in the face, and subjected him to further physical abuse,” an MCSO press release stated.

A teacher told Bailey that she heard yelling from the classroom and “saw (Prophet) yelling at the victim (and) saw (Prophet) slam the victim on the floor and (prevent the victim from) leaving the room,” the arrest report stated.

The victim’s mother told Bailey her son had “not been acting like himself” and asked her “Did Mr. Prophet call you about today?”

When arrested, Prophet told Bailey that “he did have a physical altercation with the victim due to the victim making suicidal statements” and held him down to prevent him from leaving the classroom “because he was scared the victim would leave the school and run into traffic,” the arrest report stated.

“The defendant denied ever harming (the victim and) just wanted to prevent him from committing suicide,” the arrest report stated.