Teacher accused of sexual abuse of student served as Haltom City church youth pastor
A North Texas charter school instructional aide who was arrested this month on a charge of having an improper relationship with a student also worked as a youth pastor in Haltom City, church leaders confirmed.
Ruel Barbee, 53, was arrested Feb. 6 after Newman International Academy Police Department officers and detectives investigated the allegations against him. The leadership of Oasis Community Worship Center were told of his arrest and subsequently fired him from his role as youth pastor, the church’s board of directors said in an online statement.
“We want to make it absolutely clear that neither Oasis Community Worship Center nor any members of its leadership were aware of these allegations before JR (Barbee) was arrested,” the statement reads. “This news came as a devastating shock to all of us, and we are committed to full transparency as we navigate this difficult situation.”
Barbee’s LinkedIn profile shows that he had served as the youth pastor at Oasis on a part-time basis since June 2013. According to the church’s statement, the board of directors is not aware of any incidents involving Barbee within the youth ministry.
Barbee also worked as a full-time youth pastor at a Los Angeles church from 1999 to 2004, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Two other educators from Newman International Academy’s Gibbins campus were arrested after Barbee in an ongoing sexual abuse investigation. Coach Gabrielle Little, 20, was arrested Feb. 10 on a child grooming charge. Gibbins campus principal Richard Adams was arrested Feb. 12 and faces charges of failure to make a required child abuse report, three counts of tampering with evidence and one count of tampering with a witness.
According to an affidavit police wrote in support of Barbee’s arrest warrant, a student told police that she and Barbee began speaking to each other in May 2024 and nothing physical or inappropriate happened at that time. The 12th-grade student and teacher began speaking again when school resumed in September, and Barbee told her that he would get her phone number after she graduated, the affidavit states.
The victim told police that Barbee began “gazing” at her sometime in the fall semester, and after that they kissed and touched each other sexually on several occasions, according to the affidavit. In an interview with police on Feb. 6, Barbee admitted touching the victim, the affidavit states.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit for Adams, the principal was accused of not following the law that required him to report any allegations of sexual contact between a teacher and a student within 48 hours, and of destroying emails in his school account that included critical evidence. Adams also is accused of ordering a student to delete evidence from the student’s cellphone, the affidavit states.
Investigators believe that Adams had “personal knowledge of two separate improper relationships between student and educator” and that he allowed a suspect’s wife to come to the school and collect the suspect’s personal property during the investigation, the affidavit states.
An arrest warrant affidavit for Little has not been released.
Barbee and Little were fired, and Adams resigned while he was being investigated, school officials said. The three have all bonded out of Tarrant County Jail, according to court records.
Newman International Academy Police Chief Matthew Antkowiak said at a Feb. 13 news conference that two victims have been identified so far at the Gibbins campus, which serves seventh- through 12th-grade students.
According to Antkowiak, investigators are looking into potential victims at other schools and investigating three churches — two in Texas and one in another state that he didn’t name — that have connections to one or more suspects in the case. He did not identify the churches but mentioned one of the suspects worked as a youth pastor.
Two seventh-grade girls went to a campus police officer to report the incident that led to the initial investigation, Antkowiak said.
This story was originally published February 15, 2025 at 2:04 PM.
