Honk News (Fort Worth, TX) – A charter school instructional aide in North Texas was arrested this month for having an improper relationship with a student. Church leaders have confirmed that he also served as a youth pastor in Haltom City.
Ruel Barbee, 53, was taken into custody on February 6 following an investigation by officers and detectives from the Newman International Academy Police Department regarding the allegations made against him. The board of directors at Oasis Community Worship Center announced online that they had been informed of his arrest and had decided to terminate his position as youth pastor.
Following Barbee’s arrest, two additional educators from Newman International Academy’s Gibbins campus have also been taken into custody as part of an ongoing sexual abuse investigation. On February 10, Coach Gabrielle Little, 20, was taken into custody on a charge related to child grooming. Richard Adams, the principal of Gibbins campus, was arrested on February 12. He is facing charges for failing to report child abuse, three counts of tampering with evidence, and one count of tampering with a witness.
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A police affidavit supporting Barbee’s arrest warrant states that a student reported she and Barbee started communicating in May 2024, and there were no physical or inappropriate interactions during that period. A 12th-grade student and her teacher resumed their conversations when school started again in September. According to the affidavit, Barbee mentioned he would obtain her phone number after her graduation.
The victim reported to the police that Barbee started looking at her in a certain way during the fall semester, and following that, they engaged in kissing and sexual touching on multiple occasions, as stated in the affidavit. During a police interview on February 6, Barbee acknowledged that he had touched the victim, according to the affidavit.