A Marin Catholic High School theology teacher is under investigation by the Oakland Police Department for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages to an underaged church altar server.
According to the Archdiocese of San Francisco, which oversees the high school, Jonathan Chavez has resigned from his teaching position after the allegations surfaced. The claims comes just weeks before Chavez was scheduled to chaperone up to 20 high school students on a religious youth trip to Lisbon, Portugal. Chavez also ran the high school's Guardsman's Club, which the Archdiocese said revolves around faith and spirituality.
“That’s really frightening. It’s classic behavior by predators. They seek opportunities to be alone and influence these kids,” said Dan McNevin with SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Chavez is not a priest but McNevin says lay church employees and volunteers have also put children at risk in the past.
The Archdiocese of San Francisco told NBC Bay Area plans for the religious youth trip were cancelled due to insufficient sign-ups before allegations about Chavez surfaced.
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The alleged inappropriate behavior allegedly happened while Chavez, an adult, was volunteering as an altar server at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Oakland, Oakland Diocese officials said. Chavez reportedly sent the texts to another Oakland altar server, who’s underaged, and the child’s parents alerted police and a priest at the parish on April 19.
The Diocese of Oakland said the priest made a mandatory child abuse report to the State. Approximately one or two days later, Chavez was informed he was not permitted to serve as a volunteer at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church or any other parish in the Diocese of Oakland. Oakland church officials said, on April 21, parents of altar servers at that parish were informed and all other parishioners were notified the weekend of May 13-14.
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The Diocese of Oakland said it notified Chavez’s employer, Marin Catholic High School, on April 19. But it wouldn’t be for another month and a half after learning about the allegations and getting questions from the Investigative Unit that the Archdiocese of San Francisco would alert Marin Catholic High School parents and teachers specifically about the allegations against Chavez.
In earlier notifications in May, the Archdiocese said it told parents Chavez left for personal reasons and then resigned from his teaching position. Chavez was hired on August 1, 2021.
“One of the great flaws in this process is that there’s no list anywhere that identifies the lay employees who have offended or who are suspected of offending,” said McNevin.
In a June 6 letter addressed to “MC [Marin Catholic] Community,” Executive Director of Communications and Media Relations Peter Marlow wrote “The Archdiocese of San Francisco is now able to share more information regarding former MC teacher Jonathan Chavez.” The letter acknowledged the specific allegations and said Chavez was put on administrative leave the same day the Archdiocese was notified, back in April. The Archdiocese said Marin Catholic started its own investigation which has been completed “…without any local findings. To date Mr. Chavez has admitted no fault in the matter.”
The Investigative Unit contacted Chavez directly. He didn’t want to speak with us, and through his attorney reiterated he had no comment.
While Marlow instructed anyone with questions about the case to contact the Archdiocese, McNevin argues anyone with information about Chavez or another potential victim should first contact law enforcement.
The Archdiocese of San Francisco provided the following additional information on June 8.
"Upon learning of the allegations against Mr. Chavez, Marin Catholic administration immediately placed Mr. Chavez on administrative leave the same day, notified the Sheriff’s department the same day, and initiated an investigation related to the safety of the students, which was completed without any local findings. In other words, there was no evidence of inappropriate texting by Mr. Chavez to any Marin Catholic student. The allegation that Mr. Chavez engaged in inappropriate texting with a minor was associated with a Church in Oakland.
Marin Catholic students were notified the next day that Mr. Chavez would not be teaching in their classes and that substitute teachers would be filling in. During this time period, the Marin Catholic community was also dealing with the death of a member of their community and were providing communications and counseling related to this tragedy."
Candice Nguyen was the investigative reporter on this story. If you want to reach out to her about this case or another story tip, email candice.nguyen@nbcuni.com.
