A seventh defendant has pleaded guilty in the sprawling child abuse case tied to Chester Community Charter School, as prosecutors continue working through the 20 people criminally charged after investigators found children as young as 5 subjected to painful restraints inside campus classrooms. Cyrus Barlee, 31, of Upper Darby, pleaded guilty to three counts of failure to report abuse and was sentenced to 24 months of probation, according to court records.
Barlee was charged with three second-degree misdemeanors and was ordered to have no contact with victims and cannot work with children while under court supervision, as reported by the Delco Times. He may petition for termination of supervision after 18 months if he remains compliant and violation-free. Defense counsel Nixon Kannah told the outlet that Barlee is a college graduate with no prior offenses who wants to take responsibility for what happened.
How the Abuse Came to Light
The case traces back to Chester Township Patrolman Michael Strofe, who learned of suspected abuse at the CCCS West campus on the 2700 block of Bethel Road in mid-January 2025. Strofe reviewed hours of video surveillance across three classrooms covering a period from November 6, 2024, to January 10, 2025, per the Delco Times report. He said four out of five students in the school's Team Approach to Achieving Academic Success, or TAAAS, program — which served students with academic or behavioral challenges — reported witnessing or experiencing restraint.
The alleged abuse documented in that footage included staff roughly pinching children's necks, wrapping children's arms around their midsection in a basket hold, and applying knees to children's backs to force them to the ground, the outlet reported. Kabree Daniels and Raymond Harris, both identified as positive support facilitators, were among those accused of performing shoulder work on children. Separately, CBS News reported that Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer's office announced charges against 20 school workers in March 2025, following an investigation into allegations involving 26 K-5 students. Stollsteimer described the broader case as “every parent's nightmare.” Investigators reviewing the footage also observed staff slamming at least one elementary student against a wall, with Stollsteimer saying he personally watched surveillance video showing a staffer “jack a kid up against the wall.”
A Staffing Vendor Under Scrutiny
The TAAAS program was run by Peak Performers Staffing LLC, a Chester-based company co-founded by Jennifer Woodhouse and Emmanuel Gilbert, according to the Delco Times. Woodhouse told investigators that Peak Performers staff were trained in Safety-Care restraint techniques, but police said the company's staff lacked up-to-date required Safety-Care training. No company owners were charged in connection with the alleged abuse, the outlet reported.
Pennsylvania guidelines require that any use of physical safety holds or restraints on students be officially documented, and no safety holds were reported by Chester Community Charter School during 2024. Strofe said the failure to report incidents pointed to a systemic issue within the school, according to the Delco Times. Peak Performers Staffing was terminated once the alleged violations came to light, and CCCS employees accused of carrying out the alleged practices were also fired, while other employees with possible knowledge of the abuse were placed on leave pending further investigation.
School's Response and the Scale of the Case
Max Tribble, a spokesperson for Chester Community Charter School, said the school cooperated with authorities throughout the investigation, the Delco Times reported. Delaware County detectives ultimately charged 20 people in an investigation that involved 26 alleged child victims ranging in age from 5 to 11 years old. District Judge Andrew Goldberg held hearings over two days last summer and held over nearly all of the defendants for court.
Under Pennsylvania's Child Protective Services Law, school personnel are designated mandated reporters, and willful failure to report suspected child abuse is classified as a second-degree misdemeanor for a first offense, according to the PA Family Support Alliance. Of the 20 total defendants charged, nine faced direct assault, unlawful restraint, and child endangerment charges, while 11 were charged with failure to report and endangering the welfare of a child.
Other Guilty Pleas and What's Next
Barlee is the seventh defendant to plead guilty in the case. Arijah Clements pleaded guilty to four counts of failure to report and was sentenced to 15 months of electronic home monitoring plus 18 months of consecutive probation, with the option to petition for truncated house arrest after 10 months without violations or new charges, per the Delco Times. Ryan Ridley pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to report abuse and received 12 months of house arrest and 18 months of probation.
Leroy Campbell pleaded guilty to one count of endangering the welfare of children and seven counts of failure to report child abuse, drawing 10 months of restrictive probation on house arrest followed by three years of probation. Asia Pena pleaded guilty to two charges of failure to report and was sentenced to 10 months of restrictive probation on house arrest plus 18 additional months of probation. Both Pena and Campbell were ordered to have no contact with the school or victims, and all sentenced defendants are barred from working or volunteering with children, the outlet reported.
Two more defendants, Christian Denny and Monica Griffin, have also entered guilty pleas. Denny pleaded guilty to one count of endangering the welfare of children and three counts of conspiring to endanger children, while Griffin pleaded guilty to one count of endangering the welfare of children and three counts of failure to report child abuse. Both are awaiting presentence investigations ahead of sentencing scheduled for November 19, according to the Delco Times. Kabree Daniels and Raymond Harris are scheduled for status hearings on October 1, while Maggie Moloney and other remaining defendants face a status conference on December 21. First Assistant District Attorney Kristen Kemp is handling the prosecution.
Chester Community Charter School, founded in 1998, is the largest brick-and-mortar charter school in Pennsylvania, serving over 4,400 students in grades K-8 across four campuses in the Chester Upland area, according to Fitch Ratings.
