Registered sex offender employed at Haslet school charged with not reporting job
The registered sex offender who was working at a Haslet private school until he was fired Feb. 16 has been arrested and charged with failing to truthfully disclose his place of employment to authorities, according to Tarrant County court documents.
Caleb Crawford was convicted in 2016 of inappropriately touching a 12-year-old girl, who was his cousin. He spent two years in jail and is required to annually register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Crawford worked as a contractor in the maintenance department at Heritage Christian Academy, the school connected with the church where his father serves as pastor. He also led the music in a volunteer capacity, according to a statement from the academy. His father, Eric Crawford, fired him after parents at the school learned of the younger Crawford’s criminal history.
The campus, located at 1200 FM 156, includes a school, church and daycare and serves children from 12 months old through the 12th grade.
In his annual check-ins with the Fort Worth Police Department, Crawford consistently gave an address in that city as his place of employment and reported he was a self-employed worker in the construction industry, according to the 31-year-old’s arrest warrant affidavit.
“At no time has Defendant Crawford reported any employment with Heritage Christian Academy/Heritage Baptist Church,” the affidavit states.
On Feb. 16, a parent from the school told Fort Worth police that a registered sex offender had been employed at the Haslet campus of Heritage Christian Academy. He then identified Crawford as the person in question, according to the affidavit.
The parent also told police that staff and teachers at Heritage knew of Crawford’s past criminal history but were instructed not to let the families connected with the school know.
One of the detectives attended a meeting with parents of school children and recorded the proceedings on his body camera.
“Multiple parents stated that their children, some as young as 5 years of age, were able to identify Crawford by name and even knew the vehicle he drove,” the affidavit states.
Many of the parents said they’d seen Crawford working as a janitor on campus every day. Another person reported seeing him install cameras in the school and daycare area, according to the affidavit.
Police obtained a warrant for Crawford’s arrest on Feb. 19. He was booked into the Tarrant County Jail, but has since bonded out, according to court records.
Crawford’s attorney, Pamela Boggess, was not immediately available for comment Friday afternoon.
Eric Crawford has been temporarily suspended from his pastoral duties pending an internal investigation. He previously said in a statement that he intended to allow his son to use “his gifts to serve the ministry while ensuring that he held no role of responsibility or authority over minors entrusted to our care.”
