Police Investigating Sexual Abuse Allegations at Glen Burnie Catholic School

By Ben Weathers and Tim Pratt
Capital Gazette
May 9, 2013

http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/for_the_record/police-investigating-sexual-abuse-allegations-at-glen-burnie-catholic-school/article_87739170-5fbb-57e6-a546-9d9ceda0bdc6.html

By Paul W. Gillespie, Staff

Anne Arundel County police arrested a Monsignor Slade Catholic School assistant principal on drug charges Tuesday while investigating allegations of child sexual abuse at the Glen Burnie school, according to charging documents.

Robert Ritz, 59, was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia after police searched his home in Brooklyn Park Tuesday and found marijuana, pipes, rolling papers and other items.

The search stemmed from a former student’s allegations of sexual abuse by staff at the school in the mid-2000s, police said. Ritz is the only occupant listed for that residence, according to charging documents.

Police also searched the school on Tuesday, though no charges related to the sexual abuse allegations had been filed as of Thursday morning.

“The police indicate that their investigation is ongoing and no charges related to the sexual abuse allegation have been filed at this time,” Barbara Edmondson, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, said in a letter to parents.

No one answered the door of Ritz’s home Wednesday afternoon.

The school on Tuesday sent parents an email by Assistant Principal Alexa Cox.

“The staff involved will not be on campus until we learn more information from the police,” Cox wrote. “We have no reason to believe there is any kind of threat to our school or that there will be any disruption to our schedule.”

Glen Burnie resident Susan Scanlon said she arrived at the school around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to pick up her 3-year-old daughter and saw roughly a half-dozen police cars there.

Staff were unable to tell her why police were at the school, she said.

“I was unnerved,” said Scanlon, who also has a 5-year-old at the school. “To receive an email from Mrs. Cox saying an investigation was ongoing and they believe the children are safe was not reassuring.”

Scanlon called Edmondson’s letter “vague” saying it “raises more questions than answers.”

“It’s frustrating as a parent sending your kids into an environment where you have to trust these people,” she said. “The only solace that parents can take out of this is that there’s been no arrest and it’s only an allegation.”

Before a reporter was asked to leave the grounds Thursday morning, parents told him they were shocked and saddened by the news but support the school.

Anyone with information relating to the matter is encouraged to call Anne Arundel County police at 410-222-8610.

Monsignor Slade has more than 800 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.