Zachary Retzlaff - mugshot
Zachary Retzlaff, the director of telecommunications at Principia School, was indicted on charges of statutory rape after allegedly assaulting the 16-year-old daughter of teacher Phoebe McVey last year, reports the Riverfront Times.
According to McVey, she became aware that Retzlaff had been preying on her daughter after chaperoning a class trip to New Hampshire in 2015. After reporting him to police when she returned to St. Louis, the 31-year-old man was taken into custody and officially charged two months later.
Two days after Retzaff's indictment, McVey says she called in and was told that she would not be retained after teaching at the school since 2007 and despite having a contract to teach the next year.
According to an earlier lawsuit filed against the school for covering up the attacks — later withdrawn in such a way that it could be refiled again — McVey alleged that her daughter had been raped by Retzloff more than 40 times and that he had choked her during BDSM play. The suit also accuses the staffer, who is the nephew-in-law of the school's Dean of Admissions, of holding group sex parties for students.
In an official statement, Principia called the initial lawsuit baseless, saying Retzloff had no interactions with the students at the school.
The headline to this article is misleading because it states that a Christian Science School in St Louis accused of covering up child sexual abuse and rape was a Christian school. Christian Science is not a form of Christianity despite its self appointed name. The title should simply be ammended by adding Science or Scientist in the Headline after the word Christian