{"id":324144,"date":"2026-06-30T02:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T02:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/324144\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T02:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T02:10:07","slug":"duval-county-principal-arrested-accused-of-failing-to-report-child-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/324144\/","title":{"rendered":"Duval County principal arrested, accused of failing to report child abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 3rd-degree felony charge against Michael Townsend comes after he was subject to an internal investigation earlier this month, according to the school district.<\/p>\n

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A Duval County principal was arrested Monday for allegedly failing to report child abuse \u2014 a third-degree felony.<\/p>\n

A Duval County Public Schools spokesperson said parents were alerted to the arrest of Baldwin Middle-Senior High School Principal Michael Townsend, 48, Monday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Townsend was reassigned earlier this month while the district conducted an internal personnel investigation, according to the district.<\/p>\n


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“At the district\u2019s request, JSO assisted, and the State Attorney’s Office determined there was sufficient evidence to issue an arrest warrant,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

On June 23, the school district informed families that Townsend had “decided to resign” as principal, effective June 30. As the school works to identify a new principal, Region Superintendent Timothy Simmons is serving as the interim leader.<\/p>\n

The arrest comes more than a month after Townsend announced the arrest of a teacher<\/a> from the same school, James Mulvey, on a charge of committing “offenses against students.” Mulvey is accused of having a romantic relationship with a female student.<\/p>\n

It is not yet clear if the two arrests are connected.<\/p>\n

The following message was sent to parents and guardians regarding Townsend’s arrest:<\/p>\n

“This is Regional Superintendent Tim Simmons with a very important update regarding Mr. Townsend.<\/p>\n

“This morning, we were made aware that Mr. Townsend was arrested by the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office on the charge of failure to report child abuse, which is a third-degree felony.<\/p>\n

“While news like this is difficult to share, especially when it involves a former school leader, it is important that we remain transparent with our school communities. Please know the safety of our students and staff is always our top priority. If you have any questions about the criminal investigation, you may contact JSO directly.<\/p>\n

“Thank you for your continued support of the Baldwin community.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 3rd-degree felony charge against Michael Townsend comes after he was subject to an internal investigation earlier this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-324144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}