JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jury selection begins Monday in St. Johns County for the trial of a former daycare employee who has pleaded not guilty to child molestation accusations.
Anthony Guadalupe is charged with 22 child sex violations related to at least eight students at Chappell Schools in St. Johns County.
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Guadalupe signed a guilty plea deal in October but withdrew his plea in January. With the plea withdrawn, prosecutors added seven additional counts of lewd and lascivious acts.
The now 22 charges could mean 103 years in prison if Guadalupe is convicted.
The charging document shows the alleged incidents took place between May 26 and July 18, 2022.
According to court documents, Shoemaker said that Guadalupe suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder and intellectual deficiency.
Shoemaker said that Guadalupe experienced symptoms of these disorders throughout his daily life, including the times of his alleged offenses.
In July 2022, Guadalupe was fired from Chappell School’s Longleaf campus after an incident was captured on video surveillance, according to investigators.
A father who claims Guadalupe molested his 3-year-old daughter and that the abuse was recorded on surveillance video called it an atrocity.
“Our daughter’s innocence and curiosity and wonderment was all taken away,” he said when Guadalupe withdrew his plea. “We thought that we were going to see justice served today. The delay makes that difficult, but I think we all understand why we have to go through this again.”
Guadalupe’s attorney had intended to present an insanity defense but took that back last week.