EAGLE MOUNTAIN — The principal of an Eagle Mountain high school where a teacher is accused of sexually abusing two students before fleeing to Brazil will not face any criminal obstruction charges tied to the case.
Yet a report from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office shows that detectives believe Ryan Dubois may have obstructed justice for not contacting police in a timely manner, opting instead to talk to that teacher directly — providing him with details of the allegations — because he did not believe the accusations being made by the two teenage girls who are now listed as the victims in charging documents.
“Ryan Dubois took it upon himself to investigate the allegations reported to him about Ricardo Prins, and he determined the reports were unfounded. During the time the initial reports were made, Ryan Dubois maintained contact with Ricardo Prins about what was being reported about him. Mr. Dubois maintained contact with Ricardo Prins after charges were filed against him until Mr. Prins was officially fired from the school,” according to the sheriff’s office final report obtained by KSL.com through a public records request.
In January, Ricardo Margalho Prins, 39, of Eagle Mountain, was charged in 4th District Court with 30 felonies and one misdemeanor — 10 counts of rape, 15 counts of forcible sodomy, three counts of forcible sexual abuse, plus aggravated assault, object rape and unlawful kissing of a minor. The math and computer science teacher is accused of sexually abusing two teenage girls on multiple occasions, including inside his classroom after school started in September.
He was fired from the charter school after the criminal charges were filed. But by that point, he had already fled the country. Investigators say he returned to his home country of Brazil on Dec. 16, where he is believed to still be today.
Two days after Prins fled the country, sheriff’s deputies met with Dubois at Rockwell Charter High School.
The principal told detectives that false allegations of misconduct had been levied against Prins in the past by students, according to the sheriff’s report. In this case, Dubois believed one of the girls accusing Prins was only doing it to retaliate for recently getting into trouble.
“I would like to note that Mr. Dubois made sure to express how he felt about Ricardo Prins,” the lead detective wrote in the report. “Mr. Dubois described Ricardo as being an amazing teacher and person. Throughout my time at the school, Mr. Dubois made sure to remind me what a great person Ricardo was and how much he and staff liked having him as a teacher.”
The investigation by the sheriff’s office found that Dubois was told by another teacher in September that she walked into Prins’ classroom on a Saturday and saw one of the teen girls there sitting on a couch and heard Prins talking, according to the report. Police say Dubois checked security cameras and learned that two female students were in his classroom that day. Dubois “reported that there was nothing wrong with the situation because (Prins) had two students in the classroom in an unscheduled extracurricular class activity on a Saturday.
“(Dubois) did, however, advise (Prins) to remove the couch from his classroom because it made him look bad,” the police report states. “Ryan Dubois had Ricardo Prins remove the couch from the classroom with the intent to prevent and hinder an investigation regarding conduct that constitutes a criminal offense.”
By October, several students had reported that an inappropriate relationship was happening between a teenage student and Prins. But Dubois says after talking to the girl and her parents, it was determined that the rumors were not true, the report states. The girl told Dubois that “the rumors about her and (Prins) were other students bullying her.”
However, when the girl was later formally interviewed by police, she said Dubois had given Prins a heads up about the allegations and Prins told her to lie.
“She explained (Prins) had been informed of the allegations by Mr. Dubois before Mr. Dubois talked to (the teen). (She) explained (Prins) told her to lie to Mr. Dubois and say the rumors were bullying efforts by other students,” the report alleges. The warning provided Prins “with the opportunity to groom the victim into lying about their relationship.”
Another student reported during the first week of December that she had seen inappropriate text messages on one of the girl’s phones between the girl and Prins. Dubois, however, told police that he watched a 10-second school surveillance video of the student picking up the teen’s phone and handing it back to her, and that because of the short amount of time it took in the video for the student to hand the phone back, he “determined the report was unsubstantiated and therefore a lie,” the police report says.
At that point, the mother of the student who reported the phone messages pulled her daughter from the school “to protect her,” according to the report. “(She) explained she did not trust the principal and believed something had happened.”
Dubois did not respond to KSL.com’s requests through email and phone for comment. A woman at the school who answered the phone Friday said Dubois had received the requests and said, “We have no comment.”
On Dec. 11, Dubois sent an email to all of the school’s parents to address the rumors about Prins having an inappropriate relationship with a student. Dubois claimed that a school resource officer and a detective had investigated the allegations and determined them to be false. But when the Utah County Sheriff’s Office talked to the officers, “neither of them had a chance to investigate the rumors. Mr. Dubois took it upon himself to prove the rumors were untrue and unfounded,” the report states.
On Dec. 13, one of the girls disclosed to her therapist her “sexual relationship” with Prins, according to the report. The girl’s mother was contacted by the therapist. But the mother “did not inform Mr. Dubois out of fear he would tell Ricardo Prins,” according to the report.
As part of the investigation, detectives seized Dubois’ phone and searched messages in WhatsApp. In some of the messages between Prins and Dubois, police say they expressed their support for each other, sometimes sending messages in Portuguese.
“Mr. Dubois tells Ricardo he is always thinking about him. Ricardo tells Mr. Dubois he wouldn’t have been able to get through the last few months with(out) Mr. Dubois’ support,” the police report states. In another message, after Prins was placed on leave, Dubois tells him, “I am certain the police will be coming” and “You need an attorney.”
That message was sent on Dec. 15. The next day, Prins bought a plane ticket to Brazil and fled the country, according to investigators.
In a separate text message, Dubois informed Prins of the allegations made by one of the girls and “immediately explains that he believes the report is false and are rumors” and then talks about efforts being made to have the student removed from the school, the report states.
“It is evident that Ryan makes sure to inform Ricardo of the exact details of the reports against him. In the messages, Ryan also fully supports Ricardo Prins and makes sure to comfort Ricardo,” according to the sheriff’s office. “Ryan assures Ricardo that the report is false.
“Ryan Dubois warned Ricardo Prins of the reports being made against him in detail,” the sheriff’s office continued, while also noting that it gave Prins time “to groom the victim into lying about their relationship.”
Once their investigation was completed, the sheriff’s office submitted its case to the Utah County Attorney’s Office to screen for possible charges.
“Despite a very thorough investigation by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, and our office’s careful review of the evidence discovered, we have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to support criminal charges against Mr. Dubois for his involvement in those events,” the attorney’s office told KSL.com in a statement.
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