LE††UCE PREY
DATELINE: GOSHEN, Ohio — Goshen Local Schools board members reported being sick, disgusted and stunned as they were made aware of allegations against resigned school board president John Gray.
Board members appeared confused and then angry in the minutes and hours following longtime school board member John Gray’s appearance in a video posted online by Predator Catchers Inc.
Goshen Local Schools Superintendent Darrell Edwards called the video “deeply disturbing” in a message to the district Sunday, the same day Gray resigned. The more than hour-long video shows Gray admitting to messaging a girl younger than 12, buying her gummy bears and saying they could “cuddle on the couch,” along with other disturbing exchanges.
The president of a local school board in Ohio resigned after he was caught attempting to meet with whom he thought was an 11-year-old girl after allegedly exchanging inappropriate messages with her.
John Gray, who was serving his fifth term as president of the Goshen Local School board in Goshen, Ohio, admitted to traveling about two hours from Cincinnati to Indiana to meet with the girl, according to the video uploaded to YouTube and Facebook on Saturday by the groups PCI: Predator Catchers Indianapolis and PCM: Predator Catchers Muncie.
Gray’s profile has since been scrubbed from the website of Goshen Local Schools, whose superintendent Darrell Edwards said in a statement: “The content of the video is deeply disturbing to our entire school district and Goshen Local School community. To be clear, Saturday’s incident occurred outside of the Goshen Local School district.”
For more than 30 minutes, Gray tried to explain himself.
“I said you have beautiful lips,” he said. “She said something about trying clothes on, modeling, like a fashion show.”
“And you asked her to go down to her bra and panties,” one volunteer said.
Gray replied, “I did say that.”
He agreed that he spoke to the child about washing her in a bubble bath, as well as giving her a massage.
Gray said repeatedly, “She’s starving for something.”
At one point, Gray said he just wanted to cuddle with the child on a couch and make out.
