Bradley School employee charged with indecent solicitation of child

State Police: No evidence any students at Portsmouth school were victimized

Posted 1/8/19

PORTSMOUTH — A classroom behavioral specialist at the Bradley School in Portsmouth was arrested Tuesday, Jan. 8, on numerous charges including indecent solicitation of a child on the …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Bradley School employee charged with indecent solicitation of child

State Police: No evidence any students at Portsmouth school were victimized

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — A classroom behavioral specialist at the private Bradley School in Portsmouth was arrested Tuesday, Jan. 8, on numerous charges including indecent solicitation of a child on the internet and possession of heroin.

Douglas Marcel, 32, of 3266 East Main Road, Apt. B, was arrested Tuesday after a warrant had been issued for his arrest and a search warrant was carried out at his home by members of the Rhode Island Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, with the assistance of the Portsmouth Police Department.

Mr. Marcel was charged with indecent solicitation of a child, electronically disseminating indecent material to a minor and possession of heroin with intent to deliver, according to Col. Ann C. Assumpico, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police and director of the Department of Public Safety.

Mr. Marcel’s live-in girlfriend, Kaytlin Rogala, 30, of the same address, was charged with charge of possession of heroin with intent to deliver.

Although he worked as a classroom behavioral specialist at the Bradley School, located behind St. Anthony’s Church on East Main Road, “there is no evidence any of the students were victimized,” R.I. State Police said in a prepared statement.

Members of the ICAC Task Force, which is administered by State Police, recently received a referral from the Pennsylvania State Police/ICAC Task Force regarding a Rhode Island resident who was indecently soliciting a 14-year-old female from Pennsylvania, according to State Police.

“After receiving this information, members of the R.I. ICAC initiated their own investigation into the suspect. During the month of December 2018, this individual engaged in a series of communications with a person he believed to be a 14-year-old female. The conversation quickly became sexually explicit, and the individual solicited what he believed to be a 14-year-old female to engage in sexual activity, and he also disseminated indecent material,” the statement continued.

Members of the ICAC Task Force were able to identify the individual as Mr. Marcel and obtained an arrest warrant and search warrant for his residence, State Police said. Mr. Marcel and Ms. Rogala were located at that address during Tuesday’s search, State Police said. 

“A search of the residence resulted in the seizure of suspected heroin and paraphernalia associated with the delivery of heroin. In addition, several pieces of digital media were seized in connection with the child exploitation investigation involving Marcel,” according to police.

Mr. Marcel was arraigned before Associate Judge Hastings and held without bail for the drug charge. He was also issued $50,000 surety bail with special bail conditions of restricted internet use and no contact with minors for the child exploitation charges, police said.

Ms. Rogala was arraigned before the same judge on the drug charge and held without bail, police said.

Bradley Schools offer private educational programs for children and adolescents whose psychiatric and behavioral needs cannot be met in a public school setting. 

The school in Portsmouth, which serves students in kindergarten through age 21, originally opened in Middletown in 1995 and moved to Portsmouth in 1998. It was the first school located off the Bradley Hospital campus. 

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.