PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. — A Prince George parent and friend of an alleged sex assault survivor wanted answers from the Prince George School Board when he confronted members last year about William Barnes — a former administrator now charged with child sex crimes.
“What prompted that was I was fed up as a member of our community, seeing the possibility that more children could be a victim of this person,” Gene Shanks said. Shanks spoke during the public comment portion of the October 2, 2023, Prince George School Board meeting.
Watch: Gene Shanks addresses the school board
“It had come to my attention that several in our community and they asked me to come here and carry the torch on this pretty horrible situation to make the board aware and the public aware of a long-term employee here at Prince George schools that is now under investigation for alleged child sexual abuse,” Shanks said to the board last year. “The community would like answers why this person was still employed and around children at the start of this school year or at a minimum not put on some sort of administrative leave."
That employee was former assistant superintendent William Barnes.
The educator of 50 years officially retired September 1, 2023, a month before that school board meeting and weeks after the Virginia State Police started investigating allegations that Barnes sexually assaulted his adopted son in the 1980s.
"He would hold me down,” said Barnes’s adopted son Donald Newbold. First time he did it I was 14 and a half. The first time he actually sodomized me, I was 15."
Watch: Donald Newbold shares his story with Laura French
As CBS 6 first reported, Barnes was indicted in July 2024 and faces nine counts of felony child sex crimes in this case. According to sworn affidavits, several other men have accused Barnes of assaulting them as children.
"He crawled up into sleeping bag kind of, you know, and was kind of spooning me from behind and then I could feel his whiskers on my shoulders and neck, and he started fondling me,” alleged victim Brian Carr told CBS 6. “But I wasn’t having no parts of that."
"The community wants answers on obviously this gross negligence," Shanks demanded of the School Board.
Two days after Shanks spoke out, then Superintendent Dr. Lisa Pennycuff distributed a mass email and voicemail to Prince George families that read in part that there are no known PGCPS employees with criminal allegations against them and if they did they would be removed until the allegations were resolved.
"That basically, very similar to a lot of the victims, discrediting what I had to say, and they basically called me a liar and it really didn't sit well with me, because I had no reason to come up there and just do that to be vindictive," said Shanks.
Shanks said the reason he spoke out was for a friend whose secret he kept for decades.
"In 2014, that friend of mine came forward and made a report to the Prince George Police Department and also they had him call Crimestoppers or Crime Solvers," Shanks said. “And, so he made that report, and nothing ever come of it. He felt as if it was swept under the rug and that was my feeling.
But within a week, Bill Barnes was then moved from a guidance counselor at N.B. Clements Junior High over to the admin building then was given an administrative position."
Barnes was promoted to Prince George Director of Secondary Education in 2014, the same year according to an affidavit, a man who CBS 6 confirmed, confided in Shanks, reported Barnes for allegedly touching his “genitals” at a sleepover when he was 14 years old.
"It's tough for a grown man to admit something like that. It's really, it's really tough," said Shanks tearfully. “You know, men are supposed to be, you know, macho, you know, supposed to be tough, but they carried that for many, many years, couldn't imagine how they hurt for many years real tough," he added.
On May 7, 2024, CBS 6 submitted a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request for former Superintendent Dr. Lisa Pennycuff’s emails between October 2, 2023 and November 17, 2023, with the keywords William/Bill Barnes, allegations and investigations.
CBS 6 also requested Superintendent Dr. Bobby Browder’s email communications from 2014 with the same key words.
CBS 6 was notified by the Prince George County School Board Clerk Becky Kirk that there were no responsive documents for Browder’s emails and “approximately five pages” that were being withheld from Dr. Pennycuff’s emails.
Eight days later, CBS 6 requested that the district reconsider its denial of records citing Va. Code 2.2-3704.01 and requested a redacted copy.
The district responded that “Upon further review, there are no records…”
CBS 6 responded with the following email.
Kirk responded via email the next day.
French followed up with the follow email on June 14:
CBS 6 never received any records or heard back from Ms. Kirk.
CBS 6 submitted a FOIA request for the 2014 Prince George police investigative records on Barnes.
Barnes is being held at the Riverside Regional Jail without bond and is due back in court August 22.
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Former Virginia school administrator arrested, accused of child sex abuse
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