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Trinity Oaks Teacher Charged With Online Soliciting

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By RONNIE BLAIR | The Tampa Tribune
and LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 14, 2008

Joel Matthew Cupp

NEW PORT RICHEY - A Trinity Oaks Elementary teacher was arrested today on charges of soliciting sex from teenage girls on the Internet in a sting operation run by the state Attorney General's Office.

After his arrest, Joel Matthew Cupp, 29, resigned, Pasco County school officials said.

Cupp, of 5848 Thrush Drive, was arrested by New Port Richey police officers, who are part of the attorney general's CyberCrime Unit.

Cupp thought he was talking online to three teenage girls, according to the Attorney General's Office. They were really undercover investigators, two with the Citrus County Sheriff's Office and one from the CyberCrime Unit.

The teacher also exposed himself to the "children" several times over a Web cam, the Attorney General's Office said.

He faces three counts of online solicitation and one count of lewd and lascivious exhibition. All of those counts are related to the investigation by the Citrus County Sheriff's Office. Additional charges in the investigation by the Attorney General's Office are pending, said Lt. Michael Baute of the Cybercrime Unit.

He said there's no indication Cupp ever did anything inappropriate with any students at the school. Baute praised school officials for their cooperation in the investigation.

"The school district has the same issue we do," Baute said. "They want to protect kids."

Trinity Oaks Principal Allison Hoskins said she learned about the investigation this morning, when law enforcement officers arrived at the school to question Cupp.

"We're very shocked and saddened," Hoskins said.

She held a staff meeting to let Cupp's coworkers know what happened and plan for how they will deal with the first day of school Monday. She said a substitute teacher will handle Cupp's class until a new teacher can be hired.

Hoskins used an automated telephone message to notify parents about the investigation.

Parent Jennifer Gurewicz, whose daughter is a first-grader, said after hearing that message she wanted to know whether the teacher was anyone who had been in contact with her child.

She made telephone calls and drove to the school after work and learned it wasn't one of her daughter's teachers.

"I drive my daughter 11 miles each way to take her to the best school in the area," she said. "It goes to show, your child is never safe."

Gurewicz, of New Port Richey, said she is still impressed with the school's administration, though.

"I'm very pleased with the way they handled it," she said.

Hoskins described Cupp, who was about to start his third year at Trinity Oaks, as an effective teacher and said she never saw or heard anything that hinted at a problem.

Cupp began his teaching career with the Pasco school district as a substitute teacher in February 2005 and was hired as a full-time teacher a month later at Giella Elementary. During the 2005-06 year he worked at Chasco Elementary.

The Citrus County Sheriff's Office and the CyberCrime Unit initially were investigating Cupp independently of each other, but when they discovered they were dealing with the same person they worked the case together, Baute said.

Cupp will be prosecuted in Citrus County for the contact with deputies there. If convicted of all charges, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

Cupp has written a blog called "Joel's Journey" since June 2006 but has only had a couple of entries this year. In it, he paints himself as a religious man and signs each entry with "His, Joel." The description of his blog is a Bible verse from Ephesians 1:3-6.

"I had FCATs with school, the end of the school year was really busy, my dad went to South Korea for work, there were a couple officiating camps, school ended and I miss my kiddos, I bought a house and I got a girlfriend!" he wrote in his last entry on June 26.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com. Reporter Lisa Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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