About 10 months after a sexual abuse charge against him was dropped, the suspended principal of Van High School in Boone County is resigning.
The Boone County Board of Education accepted the resignation of Garth Emil Mock on Tuesday. While the effective date given at the time was Feb. 16, Boone Superintendent John Hudson said that was an error and at the next meeting, the board would vote on changing the effective date to March 1.
Hudson said while allegations of misconduct against Mock were investigated and found to be "unsubstantiated," the school system still had "concerns." School officials and Mock came to an agreement that Mock would "irrevocably" resign, meaning he cannot return to his job.
"We felt it would be unwise to have him return to the school," Hudson said.
Mock was arrested on April 3, 2015 and charged with sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or a person of trust to a child for allegedly sexually abusing a 17-year-old student. She and an 18-year-old student told police they were going to go to the Rough N' Rowdy Brawl at the Charleston Civic Center on Jan. 9, but went to Mock's apartment instead.
He was placed on leave from his job and suspended without pay at the end of January, according to a statement from Hudson at the time.
Weeks later, the charge was dropped, although Hudson said Mock remained suspended. Prosecutors said at the time they still hoped to obtain an indictment, but didn't want a juvenile girl to have to testify. In a motion, assistant Kanawha County prosecutor Jennifer Gordon wrote that the case would be presented to a grand jury after the investigation was completed.
The 18-year-old student in the alleged incident, Destiny Lovejoy, told the Gazette-Mail that she and her friend wouldn't have testified anyway, and that in her view, she and the 17-year-old consented.
On Friday, Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Miller said that he believed the investigation continued briefly after the charge was dropped, but that since the teenagers had recanted their claims, the case was "impossible to go forward with." He said it was never presented to a grand jury.
"There was just not sufficient evidence after the alleged victim ... recanted and her family indicated that she was not going to cooperate in any way, shape or form," he said.
Lovejoy, who said she wanted to be publicly named for this story, said this week she hadn't spoken to police since shortly after the incident.
Again, she said she and her best friend didn't want Mock to be punished.
She said "it takes more than one person."
"So when I look back on [the] mistakes I made I think about how much we ruined his life and it does hurt me because I care about him more than just a friend and I will admit it," she wrote in a message. "I shouldn't have done that but he is much older and more responsible so he should have thought about the decision himself and what it would do to his future and career. I hope he's not out there somewhere [feeling] down and [hating] me for what happened... It hasn't been an easy journey for me for sure."
Lovejoy said it hurt to become a constant subject of gossip and judgment in Boone County. She said she had to start seeing a mental health professional and taking antidepressants and anxiety medication over what happened.
"It hurts and it changed my outlook on life," she wrote. "It just turned my world dark and grey."
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