A special education teacher who was transferred by Garland ISD in January 2016 after allegedly breaking a boy's arm, continued physically and sexually abusing students for five more months, according to two recently-filed lawsuits.
Michael Roell, 36, was arrested in June 2016 by Sachse police on a single felony charge of indecency with a child by contact. He was released on $5,000 bond and is scheduled to face a Dallas County judge July 31.
The federal suits, which both name Garland ISD as the defendant, allege abuse dating to December 2015, when Roell was assigned to Pathfinder Achievement Center. Pathfinder is an alternative learning campus in Garland.
The most recent suit, filed Friday by Cherish Hooper, states that Roell's history was well-known to the district. The suit contends Garland ISD should never have transferred Roell to Hudson Middle School in Sachse — where Hooper says her now 16-year-old was sexually abused.
But Roell's attorney, Charlie Humphreys, said Friday that the situation has been overblown.
"This has traumatized his life," Humphreys said of his client. "He's literally got to take these kids to the bathroom and help them so they don't pee on themselves, and it just got blown out of proportion and it's a real tragedy.
"This is one case I can't wait to get in front of a jury. We hope for a quick and favorable solution."
Initial lawsuit
On June 28, Steven and Nora Schutt sued the school district, claiming that Roell broke their son's humerus bone at Pathfinder in December 2015. The boy, who is now 15, has severe autism and is in a daily life skills program.
In the suit, the Schutts said they were told when they were summoned by the school nurse that the boy's arm was hurt as he attempted to get away from Roell in a bathroom, where the teacher was overseeing a change of clothes because the boy had defecated on himself. The Schutts took their son to a doctor who confirmed a break, their suit says.
The Schutts pressed to see video of the incident.
"The video showed that Michael Roell violently and intentionally brought up his own elbow and arm and powered it down, in a violently forceful manner," their suit claims.
But Humphreys said that he wasn't aware of any allegations about his client breaking a student's arm until a reporter asked him about it on Friday.
"I can't imagine how this would slip through the criminal system and (there be) no charge for breaking an arm," he said.
Attorneys for the district did not respond to requests for comment. Garland ISD was closed for the week.
Attorney Martin Cirkiel, who represents the plaintiffs in both lawsuits, said that the "video speaks for itself. He never should have been allowed anywhere near a kid after that" incident in the bathroom.
When classes resumed from winter break a few weeks after the encounter with the Schutts' son, Roell was teaching at Hudson.
Hooper said in her suit that by February 2016, she noticed changes in her son's behavior. He began to withdraw from friends and family and spent hours alone in isolation, according to her suit.
In April of that year, a classroom aide said the boy was displaying violent behavior toward Roell. The next month, another Hudson parent called Hooper with news that both their sons had been sexually abused by Roell, Hooper's lawsuit states. Hooper called the police.
Her son spoke about how "Roell observed him and another student urinate, would touch their genitals and how Roell would even masturbate in view of (the boy)," Hooper's suit says.
Humphreys said Hooper's son is not the student that Roell is accused of criminally touching.
'Nothing is being done'
Hooper was one of six Hudson parents who took their concerns to school board at its May 24, 2016, meeting. Roell had been taken out of the classroom by then, and the parents were upset that they hadn't been told why. His arrest came approximately two weeks later.
"I feel nothing is being done," Hooper told the school board and superintendent. "It took a week to even get a letter sent home to these other parents to even allow them to know that this teacher was no longer in the classroom."
The lawsuits claim the district did nothing to prevent the abuse or provide any remedy for its effects — including counseling or the families' rights to file a formal grievance. The families seek unspecified damages for medical and mental health costs plus legal fees.
"They didn't stop the problem, they just moved it to another place," Cirkiel said Friday. "They're supposed to investigate these incidents with some level of scrutiny and they didn't."
