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Newberry charter school activist charged with possession of child pornography

Updated on September 7 with bail amount.

Staff report

NEWBERRY, Fla. – Joel Bruce Searby, 43, of Newberry, has been charged with 12 counts of possession of 10 or more child pornography images. Searby, who was one of the founding members of the group that organized a vote to convert Newberry’s public schools to charter schools, was previously arrested on June 20 for inviting a 15-year-old boy to his house for sex and has been in the Alachua County Jail since that date.

A search warrant that was executed at the time of Searby’s arrest reportedly produced a laptop, and a search of the laptop reportedly produced 12 child sexual abuse images: one video and 10 images showed nude or partially nude pre-pubescent males who appeared to be between the ages of 7 and 10, and one video showed a partially nude male who appeared to be 14-16 years old. One video reportedly showed three nude, pre-pubescent males engaged in sexual acts with each other.

Searby is currently being held without bail, but a hearing is scheduled for next week to hear a motion asking a judge to set bail. Judge Sean Brewer set bail on the new charges at $900,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

  • I hope he gets the maximum sentence for all of his charges and serves every day of his time.

  • YOU have probably already ruined so many lives and I am glad you were stopped. I hope you get the max. time and the “boys” take care of you in prison!

    • Such harm — that lasts a lifetime. He pretty much admits it happened to him, too. Sad that he decides to harm others rather than face himself.

      But i dont wish rape on anyone in prison. Thats another form of sexual violence that causes cycles of harm. I get the impulse. But I wish we would stop treating prison rape like it solves anything besides creating more rapists and messed up people released back into our communities.

      • It could be true that it happened to him, he did tell his intended victim that.

        But he may well have been lying about that to make the victim feel like “this is all normal and okay and you’re gonna be fine.”

        It’s a standard grooming move and these people seem to have a playbook.

    • The lord won’t be doing crap. If the lord cared, the videos wouldn’t exist because pedophiles wouldn’t exist.

  • Just about every industry with kids is going to attract pedophiles, even married ones. It’s good detective work we have here. Another reason cops deserve a 200% pay raise — and cut public lawyer pay 50%.

  • This is the mastermind behind Newberry’s takeover of an A rated public school. Reason enough to trash this lame brain idea.

    • The Newberry people asked him to help create the plan for the charter school, but there was never any indication that he would be in a classroom

      ACPS let him coach middle school boys (oh, you didn’t know that? Yes, Joel Searby coached Oak View Middle School basketball)

      Tell me again which group we should trust with our kids?

      Or maybe stop being a partisan hack and admit that people are flawed and we often don’t know what they are capable of. Just in the past few weeks, an ACPS bus driver and preschool teacher were arrested (for lewd/lascivious molestation of a child and child abuse, respectively), but I don’t see you saying we should trash the whole idea of public school.

      • Which group should you trust? Simple. Trust the school system that runs this A-rated school. In contrast to the propaganda center that the leaders of this effort fantasize about.

    • Truth be told with a name like that you think you speak the truth on all fronts?! Let me help how about that he was cleared by the public schools to be a bball coach for years before any charter ideas?! Another fact, he was immediately removed from EFN and his actions denounced by those parents who requested the vote as soon as this news broke of his arrest?! So please stop trying to push your SOD narrative and omit the real truth. We can see through your BS. Also how about the others arrested this week for abuse that was employees of acps, where is your outrage there?

      • Such a weak and scattered argument. I don’t think any other people arrested were trying to start a charter school.

  • Any pictures of a goofy late middle aged w/m? Might be his buddy that defended him on Facebook. Any conservatives interested in a commission seat in Newberry? Tim has to go…

  • Business man, family man, Christian man, all about his community. This is why we cannot trust individuals with our children, even if we think we know them. These poor children and his family that is suffering.
    I hope prison “Takes care” of him.

  • And why do we have rainbow 🌈 flags in classrooms again?

    And why do we have transgendered bathrooms?

    And those books in the school libraries that should be banned?

    The ACSB needs to stay out of the kids’ pants .

    • I guess the thumbs down votes for you Mr. Pink are from diversity, equity, inclusion people…

      Where do we draw the line?

      It should not be groomed in public schools.

      His crime is being a queer gay male pedophile chicken hawk.

      Was it genetic and was he born that way, or was he groomed in environment?

      Should we normalize sexual deviancy & sexual dysphoria in the classroom?

      Does his behavior fall under the gay rainbow 🌈 flag?

    • Being gay is not the issue, sex crimes on children is, and straight perpetrators are the bigger problem, as are males vs females perp comparisons. Based on that, schools should be on guard against me and you, not gays.

      “Using phallometric test sensitivities to calculate the proportion of true pedophiles among various groups of sex offenders against children, and taking into consideration previously reported mean numbers of victims per offender group, the ratio of heterosexual to homosexual pedophiles was calculated to be approximately 11:1. “

      • YOU are posting a study from 1992. I think mr. Oink was talking more about gender grooming within the classroom.

        Androphilia and gynephilia are terms used in behavioral science to describe sexual orientation, as an alternative to a gender binary homosexual and heterosexual conceptualization. This is more up to date.

        Previous investigations have indicated that the ratio of sex offenders against female children vs. offenders against male children is approximately 2:1, while the ratio of gynephiles to androphiles among the general population is approximately 20:1. The present study investigated whether the etiology of preferred partner sex among pedophiles is related to the etiology of preferred partner sex among males preferring adult partners. Using phallometric test sensitivities to calculate the proportion of true pedophiles among various groups of sex offenders against children, and taking into consideration previously reported mean numbers of victims per offender group, the ratio of heterosexual to homosexual pedophiles was calculated to be approximately 11:1. This suggests that the resulting proportion of true pedophiles among persons with a homosexual erotic development is greater than that in persons who develop heterosexually. This, of course, would not indicate that androphilic males have a greater propensity to offend against children.

  • Being a victim is no excuse for committing the same acts. Keep racking the charges up in this Chester.

  • Not surprising now of his desired involvement with schools thinking maybe he’d eventually have access to young boys. He needs 25 years and mandatory castration.

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