ST. CROIX — A teacher who taught math at Bertha C. Boshulte Middle School at the time of an alleged assault on a student appeared by video in Superior Court on St. Thomas Tuesday for an advice of rights hearing on charges stemming from the November 2024 incident.
Joseph Ofori, 50, is charged with child abuse, third-degree assault, and simple assault and battery for allegedly slapping a student on the left side of his face near his ear. The student, who was 13 years old at the time of the incident, is identified as J.J. in court documents.
Magistrate Judge Simone Van Holten-Turnbull noted that a warrant had been issued for Ofori’s arrest in September, meaning probable cause had already been established. Ofori appeared via Zoom from the Bureau of Corrections. His bail had been set at $60,000.
Assistant Attorney General Brenda Scales told the court that Ofori was born in Ghana and has no criminal history. She asked that he be required to post 10% of the bail and have no contact with the student or the student’s family.
Assistant Public Defender Ryan Larose said Ofori has lived on St. Thomas for three years with his wife and children, currently works at Charlotte Amalie High School, and has a college education from Ghana. Larose said Ofori was suspended until March 2025 and has had no similar incidents since. He said an investigation had already been conducted, but the judge responded that it was the Department of Education’s investigation and that this was the criminal investigation. She said she was sure the parents had pushed for it. Larose asked that bail be set at $2,000, with the remainder unsecured.
Van Holten-Turnbull called the matter a serious issue.
“No matter how you flip it and turn it, a child was injured,” she said.
The judge further said she did not believe Ofori was a danger to the community and noted that the territory has a shortage of teachers. She set bail at $5,000, with the rest unsecured. She ordered that Ofori have no contact with J.J. or his family members. She also said she did not think Ofori would lose his job at this time, but that if he did, he would have to report it and follow additional conditions.
Separately, J.J.’s mother filed a six-count civil complaint Tuesday in District Court against Ofori and the school’s principal, Terrence Corbett, each in his individual capacity. J.J.’s mother, who is representing herself, is seeking compensatory damages from both men and punitive damages from Ofori.
After complaining about a burning pain in his ear and hearing loss, the student’s mother took him to the emergency room, according to court documents. He was also seen by a specialist at Virgin Islands Ear, Nose & Throat. The specialist and emergency room staff found that the teenager had a ruptured eardrum. The documents state that medical evaluation found approximately 40% of J.J.’s eardrum was damaged, resulting in hearing loss.
According to a probable cause fact sheet and an affidavit filed by Detective Deneisha Walters, of the Virgin Islands Police Department’s Special Victims Unit, officers were dispatched November 15, 2024, to Schneider Regional Medical Center in reference to an alleged assault on a student. The student’s mother told an officer her son had been assaulted by his math teacher at school earlier that day.
The affidavit states that J.J. gave a statement to police on December 3, 2024, accompanied by his mother. He told investigators that a classmate seated next to him asked him for the time during math class at about 2:20 p.m., and that he took out his cellphone from his pocket to show her the time. He said Ofori approached him, grabbed the phone, and struck him in the face near his left ear.
J.J. said he asked Ofori what he had done wrong and received no response. He said a sign in the classroom prohibited phones, but that Ofori did not typically address cellphone use in class. Classmates expressed concern and told J.J. that their teacher was not allowed to hit him before escorting him toward the school office, and Ofori handed the phone back as they left, according to the affidavit.
A school administrator identified in the documents as D.V. told investigators on February 20 that two or three students brought J.J. to the main office shortly after the dismissal bell and said Ofori had slapped him. D.V. said his understanding from the students was that J.J. had his phone out, Ofori tried to take it, J.J. resisted and Ofori slapped him. He said he directed office staff to call J.J.’s parents and that the matter needed to be handled by the principal.
Another student, identified as O.L., told Walters on February 25 that Ofori seemed mad at the class that day because of their behavior. She said the buses line up outside when school is about to end, so she asked J.J. for the time because she knew the buses fill up quickly. She said J.J. had barely taken his phone from his pocket when Ofori said, “Give me your phone.” According to the affidavit, she described a tug-of-war over the phone, after which she said Ofori slapped J.J. She said the slap was loud, that J.J. held his face afterward, and that she saw some redness on his face.
Ofori met with law enforcement on January 10, 2025, and gave a statement after being advised of and waiving his Miranda rights, the affidavit states. He said J.J. was disruptive and using his phone during instructional time, and that he decided to confiscate it. Ofori said J.J. hesitated when asked to hand it over, and that he raised his voice to gain the student’s compliance. Ofori told investigators that J.J. then slammed the phone into his hand with force. According to Ofori, the unexpected aggressive action triggered an immediate reaction, during which he raised his free hand and slapped J.J., the affidavit states.
Ofori also acknowledged that teachers are prohibited from physically disciplining students under any circumstances and said he was suspended and received several disciplinary sanctions as a result of the alleged incident, according to the affidavit.
A footnote in the affidavit states that the recorded interview with Ofori was conducted by two other detectives and that the recording was lost. His statement in the affidavit comes from a supplemental report written after the interview.
In the civil complaint, J.J.’s mother alleges that no school employee summoned the school nurse, called 911 or notified law enforcement after her son left the classroom and reported to the school office. She claims he was told to go directly to his school bus, and he did.
According to the complaint, Corbett was informed on November 14, 2024, that J.J. had allegedly been struck in the left ear by Ofori earlier in the day and that the boy’s face was red. Corbett called Ofori, who confirmed that something had happened with a student and, in Corbett’s written words, “expressed that he did hit” J.J., the complaint states. The boy’s mother attached a school Incident Report Form dated November 15, 2024, to the complaint as an exhibit. The form says the alleged incident occurred on school property during regular school hours. The names of the teacher and student are redacted.
The complaint also states that Ofori called the boy’s mother on the afternoon of the alleged incident and apologized repeatedly. When she pressed him to say whether he had slapped her son, he answered yes, according to the complaint. She declined his request to meet with him.
J.J. was under a specialist’s care for about seven weeks, from November 18, 2024, through January 6, 2025, and ear pain and left jaw pain were documented at every visit, the complaint states. During J.J.’s first examination on November 18, 2024, a specialist found a hole covering about 50% to 60% of the left eardrum. By a follow-up examination on December 13, 2024, the hole had decreased to about 25%. On January 6, 2025, the specialist examined J.J. for the third time and found that the left eardrum was still perforated, with the hole covering about 25% of the eardrum. The outer-ear infection had resolved, but J.J. continued to have left ear pain and tenderness in the left jaw joint, with pain when the joint was moved.
A health plan claim summary shows $1,223.22 in medical charges billed for treatment of the injury between November 15 and November 18, 2024, of which J.J.’s mother was responsible for $250.07. Further charges were incurred for visits on December 13, 2024, and January 6, 2025, and for medications prescribed at those visits, according to the complaint.
J.J.’s mother is suing Ofori for violation of the Fourteenth Amendment right to bodily integrity, battery, assault, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She is suing Corbett for negligent failure to obtain medical care for a child in the school’s custody. She is suing both men for a parent’s claim for medical expenses and loss of services. She is also asking the court to award compensatory damages to her and her son against each defendant in an amount to be determined at trial, and punitive damages against Ofori in an amount sufficient to punish and deter.
Ofori’s arraignment is scheduled for 10 a.m. October 16.
