Overdose Suspected
This from the Richmond Register:
A former Madison Southern High School assistant principal scheduled for arrangement Thursday on sex abuse and other charges was found dead Sunday in Lee County, Va.
According to Berea Police Capt. Ken Clark, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office contacted Berea Police as it investigated the death of Joy Alison Hayes and learned she had a criminal case here.
Lee County is in the far western tip of Virginia, bordering Harlan County, Ky., between Pennington Gap and Cumberland Gap.
In early December, a Madison County grand jury indicted Hayes on nine counts. Those included sexual abuse of a minor, fourth-degree assault of the victim and stalking, as well as drug and other charges.
During November 2013 and between May and June 2014, Hayes subjected a teenaged girl to sexual contact, according to the indictment. The victim was 15-years-old when the offenses began, it added. Hayes was indicted on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, based on those incidents.
In late August, Hayes struck the girl, causing her injury, the indictment stated, and she was charged with fourth-degree assault charge on that incident.
Hayes was indicted on two counts of first-degree stalking after following the victim and another person between August and October while armed with a deadly weapon, the indictment added.
She also was indicted on one count of first-degree and two counts of second-degree unlawful transaction with a minor because she provided Lortab, Xanax and alcohol to the girl and induced her to disobey her parents, the indictment continued.
And she was indicted on a witness tampering charge, because she attempted to induce the girl to charge her testimony or not testify, according to grand jury documents.
Hayes was employed by Madison Southern in July of 2012 but resigned in December 2013, school district spokesperson Erin Stewart told the Richmond Register after Hayes was arrested.
In January 2014, Hayes was employed by the Berea College Gear Up program, but did not work directly with students, according to Tim Jordan, college spokesperson. On Sept. 11, college officials were notified of Hayes’s arrest and terminated her two days later, Jordan added.
Online Madison County Detention Center records from Hayes’ Oct 14. booking listed a Lexington address for her. She was released after about 24 hours, the records show.
This from the Herald-Leader:
An overdose is suspected in the death of a former Madison County assistant principal who was facing sex abuse charges.
Joy Alison Hayes, 43, was found unresponsive Sunday in her mother's home in Lee County, Va.
Berea Police Capt. Ken Clark said Tuesday morning that the cause of death remains unknown, although Virginia authorities "suspect an overdose of some type."
"No foul play is suspected," Clark said.
Hayes, a former assistant principal at Madison Southern High School in Berea, had been indicted in Madison County on several charges, including sexual abuse of a minor. She had been scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning in Madison Circuit Court, according to the circuit clerk's office. Berea police had investigated the case.
Capt. Taylor Scott, an investigator with the Lee County, Va., Sheriff's Department, said Tuesday morning that Hayes was pronounced dead at the Lonesome Pine Hospital in Big Stone Gap, Va., shortly after she was found unresponsive.
Hayes' mother is from Lee County and had moved back there several months ago, Scott said.
It wasn't immediately clear how long Hayes had been at her mother's home.
Clark said he didn't know who discovered Hayes.
An autopsy has not been performed, but blood samples were taken for toxicology testing, Clark said.
Results could take eight weeks, Scott said.
A Madison County grand jury indicted Hayes in December on charges of sexual abuse of a minor, fourth-degree assault and stalking.
Berea police had arrested her last fall. At the time, Berea officers said they had twice taken reports that Hayes was harassing juveniles who were students at Madison Southern, although they said the alleged offenses didn't occur while Hayes was employed at the school.
Police said they later learned that one juvenile had had sexual contact with Hayes at a home in Berea.
Hayes resigned from Madison County Public Schools in December 2013, district officials said. She also had worked briefly at Berea College.
Hayes was a principal at Lexington Traditional Magnet, a middle school, for two years until the end of the 2011-12 term.
2 comments:
I am writing only as a Teacher within the troubled FCPS school system. This death disturbs me. I have believed that the school system has long been putting ill prepared emotionally distraught individuals in these high pressure roles. I worked under Melinda Lewis Cobb under her reign of terror, I watched Michael Ernst engage in highly unprofessional behavior of same sex harassment, and I was troubled when a teacher at a local elementary school, unbeknownst to her principal, ran an escort service from her home.
Principals seem to need more training in how to deal with student principal and teacher principal relationships. More importantly, they should be screened for mental fitness. The death of this principal only reinforces this point.
I revisited this article again and know that this former principal clearly had issues. Somehow, though, I hate to remember her as a woman in a mugshot. She had a son, a mother, and people who cared about her. This case is indeed troubling. I regret that she took her life.
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