David DePuydt, Phoenix, Arizona (arrested Aug 2013)

Discussion in 'Tomcats' started by TMP, Aug 6, 2013.

  1. TMP

    TMP Himself

    DePuydt David.jpg

    David DePuydt, 27, photography & world history teacher at Horizon Community Learning Center, Phoenix, Arizona, "accused of having sex with a teenage girl who was one of his students"

    Arizona Republic: Ahwatukee teacher accused of sexual conduct with student (Aug 5 2013)

    Police on Sunday received a report with allegations that 27-year-old David DePuydt had committed various sexual acts with a 15-year-old female student of his, according to a police report ... A police investigation discovered that DePuydt and the female victim were in a "relationship" for about seven months, the report said. The relationship stretched from January to July of this year, according to the report. DePuydt later admitted the acts to detectives, police said.

    KGUN 9: Ahwatukee teacher accused of having sex with teen (Aug 5 2013)

    The Republic: Teacher at Ahwatukee school accused of having sex with a teen girl who was one of his students (Aug 5 2013)

    Tags:
     
    David DePuydt, Phoenix, Arizona, Horizon Community Learning Center, Ahwatukee
  2. TMP

    TMP Himself

    AZ Family: Ahwatukee teacher accused of sex with student (Aug 5 2013)

    David DePuydt, 27, is accused of having a sexual relationship with one of his 15-year-old students for seven months beginning in January ... Police said the victim was interviewed, and she disclosed the acts to the detectives. DePuydt later admitted them too, and was arrested on six counts of sexual conduct with a minor.
     
  3. TMP

    TMP Himself

    ABC 15: Phoenix teacher David Depuydt accused of having sex with 15-year-old student (Aug 5 2013)

    Authorities said during their investigation, they learned [David] Depuydt, a teacher at Horizon Community Learning Center, has been in a relationship with the 15-year-old student for approximately seven months. The victim was interviewed and disclosed the acts to detectives.
     
  4. TMP

    TMP Himself

    Ahwatukee Foothills News: Ahwatukee teacher David Depuydt accused of having sex with 15-year-old student (Aug 5 2013)

    Authorities said during their investigation, they learned [David] Depuydt ... has been in a relationship with a 15-year -old student for approximately seven months. The victim was interviewed and disclosed the acts to detectives. Depuydt was later booked into jail on six counts of sexual conduct with a minor.
     
  5. TMP

    TMP Himself

    My Fox Phoenix: Phoenix teacher accused of sex conduct with student (Aug 5 2013)

    David Depuydt, 27, allegedly committed multiple acts of sex conduct with a 15-year-old female student. Police say their relationship had been going on for 7 months. The victim was interviewed by officers and acknowledged the acts occurred.
     
  6. TMP

    TMP Himself

    KTAR: Ahwatukee teacher suspended for allegedly having sex with a minor (Aug 5 2013)

    David DePuydt, 27, who teaches at Horizon Community Learning Center, is facing six felony charges for being allegedly involved in a seven-month relationship with one of his students. Detectives said they were tipped off by a "third party" to the relationship.
     
  7. B. A. Carter

    B. A. Carter Guest

    I am wondering how these cases get so out of control. You have a 27 year old man being accused of horrific acts by a 15 year old. By a 15 year old. They had a relationship for 7 months? The 15 year old didn't tell anybody? The 15 year olds' parents didn't notice anything? How did they carry on for 7 months? How about the teachers' wife and his friends? Everybody is so quick to believe the worst. How about him being falsely accused? How about his reputation? How about his career? How about when he was confronted by the police and he asked for a lawyer and did not admit to anything. How about the media finding him guilty before his trial? The truth comes out that he did not do anything. What happens then? How do you repair the damage done to him and his family? I am curious about a 15 year old actually being able to pull off that kind of seduction. What would make an educated man with a Masters' and a career and a loving family throw it all away? Let's hope he doesn't die in Tent City before we can find the truth.
     
  8. texas

    texas Guest

    I myself many moons was in a relationship with an older man even married, I was not a victim and was young still in my teens. Even today in discussing with girls many prefer older men to boys who are too immature to treat them right . But in a world of don't talk to strangers, no one should touch you or make fell uncomfortable, and find someone you trust can talk to is taught since I can remember to children through out school years...... how is it a 15 year old young women who calls it a relationship is a victim? Seven months prior to this the flirtation or hints of inappropriate attention where not noticed or mentioned, WHY NOW? Is it a love gone wrong or maybe the light came on of what am I doing with you what ever the case as with any relationship VENGEANCE is not the solution.
    As for a Society of HYPOCRITES........dictionary.reference.com/browse/hypocrite
    a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions ... this is our society we promote young lovers all over the wide screen.

    This is not a child molested this is a young adolescent who had a crush perhaps fell in love and a man who may of allowed himself to enter that forbidden garden, is this reason enough to ruin is life, she will walk away be true or false unscaled
     
  9. knight

    knight Guest

     
  10. knight

    knight Guest

    knight, post: All of your many "how about" questions has me asking one of my own. "How about" he walk away from an adolescent 15 year old????
     
  11. Horizon Alum

    Horizon Alum Guest

    I would like to say, first and foremost, that I used to go to Horizon Honors High School where David Depuydt worked as an English and Photography teacher. He was my English teacher for two years, and as his student in a school where the size creates very close teacher-student bonds, I feel as if I can judge his character far better than you disgusting rape sympathizers.

    Mr. Depuydt is not a victim. He is not a man who was wronged or abused by the media. Quite to the contrary, he was a very intelligent guy. Not only that, but he was a very logical thinker who took more than enough time to consider his actions. So trust me when I say that he knew what he was doing when he entered this relationship. He knew, as an intelligent, educated man, that his profession forbade this type of relationship with his students -- and yet he persisted. He entered a relationship with this 15-year-old girl despite the fact that he knew he shouldn't, and as such he should face the consequences of his actions.

    Aside from his relationship with this girl, David Depuydt was more than a little flirtatious with his female students. In terms of his popularity, his classes were normally split 50/50 with how well his students liked him as a professor. Many of his students found him to be incredibly arrogant. He had a tendency to say and do elitist things, and he had a tendency to downplay the concerns of many of his students; However, he was well-liked with his less ambitions students. They didn't care about his lessons, they liked the fact that he was more open with them due to his age. He was only 25 when he first became a full-time teacher at Horizon, and the age difference between us and Depuydt was very small in comparison to our other teachers. At first I liked him...until I noticed the way he treated some of his female students. He was very "friendly" with them. On more than one occasion upperclassmen girls would come into his room on their bathroom breaks to talk to him about their personal lives. It wasn't that much of a deal at first, but there were instances where he let his female students invade his personal space. On a bus ride to California for a school trip a junior girl fell asleep on him and he made no efforts to move her. These are very small events perhaps, but I wasn't looking for signs of perversion. I wasn't very involved with him. The only time I felt a little bit violated sexually was when a friend of mine (who was taking his Photography class) took a photo of me that had implied sexual messages, and when I asked him to refuse to accept it as a grading submission, and he declined me.

    As for this girl, she did say something. She must have also been aware of the consequences of their relationship's exposure, and she kept it quiet for months. The relationship was exposed when she finally told a friend of hers what had been going on, and that friend made the appropriate decision to alert faculty, who alerted the police. They felt obligated to respond, as this is the second in five years this has happened to a female student.

    So please, do the world a favor and kindly shut the [profanity removed] up. You have no right to paint this man as a victim when he victimized this girl for more than half a year. I'm not close to the source. I don't know how this relationship started, and I don't know how consensual it was, but I do know AS SOMEONE WHO KNEW DAVID DEPUYDT that he was well-aware of the consequences of his actions. He was a married man. He was a teacher. He was an adult who was twelve years older than the student he made the target of his sexual affections. So stop trying to make this story all about "the horrible deeds done to poor David Depuydt", because if this girl DID feel trapped in this relationship and was afraid to stop it then you are telling her indirectly that her sexual exploitation doesn't matter and that it's okay for men to rape young girls.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 27, 2014
  12. I am ALSO a Horizon graduate. I transferred to Horizon in my sophomore year and therefore he was my first English teacher at Horizon. I only had him for one class my entire time there, but he was a funny man. He did voices sometimes, he was really good at Kermit the Frog, Gilbert Gottfried, and so on. That being said, he could also get pretty angry. I remember one time a classmate of mine pulled up his projector screen too quickly and it slammed into the ceiling. Depuydt got mad and threw a marker across the room, then glared at the student and kept him in the room after we had all left. I was also a bit of a troublemaker, and quite a few times he would pull me aside after class and scold me or something. I could tell he didn't like me very much.
    I completely agree with the other alum here, Depuydt was a very smart man. While he could be silly at times, he was a smart man who definitely came off as intellectual to me. He knew what he was doing, and he needs to suffer the consequences. You were pretty cool, Mr. Depuydt, but c'mon man.
     
  13. StillAnother HorizonAlum

    StillAnother HorizonAlum Registered Member

    As my username suggests, I am also a Horizon graduate. I attended this school from my freshman to my senior year, and so I was present when Mr. DePuydt was first hired. I'll admit- I occasionally got a bit irritated with his lessons, but overall, he was still one of my favorite teachers. He was a fun guy to talk to, he was open, and, like the other two alumni have said, he was clearly very intelligent. More than that, though, I was going through a tough time in my life when I first arrived at Horizon, and when I met him, I got the impression that he really cared about me and was willing to help me whenever I needed.

    When he got arrested, however, all that completely changed. I first heard the news, and even though I had graduated a little over a year ago, I was shocked. My first instinct was to not believe the news, and over the course of the day, I kept looking for a sign, a new development, anything that would disprove the charges. Up until the point where I read he confessed to the crimes, I didn't want to believe it. When I realized it was true, all respect I once had for him instantly vanished, and within the span of a minute, I went from admiring him to LOATHING him. To the point where I even considered everything I once learned from him, and once considered beneficial, to completely invalidated.

    And the reason why? Was it the fact that he took advantage of a young girl, which is disgusting in and of itself? No, it was that I realized that everything I once believed about him could very well have been a complete and utter LIE. The monster that I now saw before me, I realized, might have been lying there the entire time I knew him, under the facade of that intelligent, open, and insightful guy that I once knew. At the risk of running selfish, I began to feel that he never even gave a [profanity removed] about me, or any of his other students, for that matter. And the sad thing is- I know he was going through a messy divorce at the time, but the more and more I read through everything my fellow alumni wrote here, the more and more I realize my worst fears were probably true. He betrayed us all, and that alone made me lose all respect for him.

    And so, I say to you, Mr. DePuydt, unapologetically and completely indignantly- [profanities removed] everything you once taught us, and everything that I was so naive to actually believe, to the point that I was willing to excuse anything about you that even slightly irritated me. [profanity removed] your willingness to take advantage of a young girl like that for your own personal needs. Your "wife" made the right decision to get the [profanity removed] away from you, and I hope you never stop facing the consequences of this for the rest of your life. As immature as this sounds, pedophilia will never NOT hit a button with me, and because of that, I hope the absolute WORST for you in prison.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 27, 2014
  14. TMP

    TMP Himself

    Just a reminder that (as best I can tell) he hasn't been convicted yet. Although the cops &/or prosecutor might claim that he's "confessed", that needs to be taken with a grain of salt until he's actually been convicted or cops a plea.
     
  15. Horizon Honors Graduate

    Horizon Honors Graduate Registered Member

    I'm another graduate from Horizon Honors and had Mr. DePuydt as a teacher for two years. When this news broke out, the rumors spread like wildfire, even among the alumni. Some news stories I have read online have some slight contradictions so like all stories from the media, I am not completely sure what to believe. I only know one thing for sure, that Mr. DePuydt has no sympathy from me and I cannot imagine how he could get any from anyone. I know some people that still go to this school and even some people that were in the same class as this girl that was taught by Mr. DePuydt. I know that they have told me that she was very flirty with him and everyone thought it was kind of weird and gross but of course none of the students could have assumed to the extent of what was actually going on. That being said, this is in no way an excuse for DePuydt's behavior. He was an extremely intelligent man but even if he was not, he would have certainly still been fully aware that a relationship with a 15 year old student is completely inappropriate, immoral and illegal regardless of her behavior towards him. Especially a relationship where he rapes her and forces her to have an abortion in the classroom with a ruler until she bleeds. I cannot even fathom how someone else could not themselves realize the heinousness of these inexcusable acts.

    I have some personal stories about him from my time there that I feel I need to share. Even though Mr. DePuydt always annoyed me because he was pompous, arrogant, and talked to much, I have to admit that he was extremely intelligent and this is one of the reasons that I was so shocked to hear the news. He was fluent in several languages, had a Master's Degree and knew everything about everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. We would even make it a kind of game in class to see who could ask him the most obscure questions to see if we could find something he did not know the answer to and no one ever won. He lost his temper rather easily. I recall a time my freshman year when my friends and I were late to class and he yelled at us with big fancy words so none of knew what he was saying but we could all tell he was really (expletive deleted). I never saw or heard of him losing his temper other than yelling. My sophomore year I went on a trip to Europe with the school and Mr. DePuydt was one of the chaperons for the trip. He was even sometimes the one assigned to check our room (all girl students) at night to make sure that everyone was there (the chaperons all took turns doing this every night). However, not once did I notice anything or hear about him doing anything weird the whole entire trip. Another time my best friend and I stayed hours after school got out to help set up for the school's biannual art show. Since it was several hours after school got out, my friend and I were completely alone with him for probably about an hour helping to set up photography students' projects. We had volunteered to help, he never asked us. Once again, nothing unusual at all happened. I know some female students liked to eat lunch in his classroom and talk with him but they were kind of nerdy and I just figured they liked talking to him since he was so smart.I never noticed him act innappropriate to anyone, I think that the flirting people say they noticed started to happen after his divorce which was after I had him for a teacher. It is extremely unfortunate that those once innocent memories I have are now tainted. I can never again think of my trip to Europe without thinking, "Thank God nothing happened to my friends and I when he checked attendance in our rooms all those nights!" I'm sure other female students who had him for a teacher now feel the same way, I don't really see how they could not, and this is an unfortunate side affect that no one notices except us who are affected.

    Lastly, I want give some of my thoughts on details in other news stories I have read about this whole thing. I think that the letter sent out to the students which specified that his victim was a student was only so that other parents with daughters in his class could be aware of the problem and they could make sure that it had not happened to their daughters as well. I do not think that it was the school's intention to single her out so she would be harassed and it seems quite silly to me for anyone to believe this was their motivation. They did not give any other details (her age, grade, if she was in any of his classes ect.) so considering there are over 1,000 students in the whole school, naming her as a student did not narrow it down that much. Of course students guessed who it was after a while because rumors fly and people gossip. Although this is unfortunate (especially the students' name calling of this girl that some articles mention) it is inevitable. I don't think that there was anything the school could have done to stop students gossiping (although I know that they tried because students told me they were automatically given detentions if teachers heard them talking about it) and I definitely do not think that the letter helped to promote the gossiping. Parents had the right to know what was going on. I'm also very interested as to how her parents could not have known that this was going on for half a year but I don't know all the details so it is not my place to judge. I hope that we don't have more girls coming out now saying this happened to them too (although I think this would have already happened by now since this story came out a while ago).