Staff report

OCALA, Fla. – Christopher Charles Chell, 47, of Alachua, a former Athletic Director at St. Patrick’s Interparish School who is currently on probation after pleading to charges of battery and soliciting a romantic relationship as an authority figure, has now been charged in Marion County with lewd or lascivious molestation of an 11-year-old boy; the alleged incident occurred while Chell was driving the victim home from a flag football game in Ocala in October 2022.

Although the arrest warrant was issued out of Marion County, Marion County sources have told us they do not yet have the probable cause affidavit; however, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office sent an incident report in response to a public records request.

On February 10, 2025, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy spoke with a witness who said the victim had disclosed the incident to a friend, the friend told others, and the story was eventually overheard by a staff member at the victim’s current school. Once the witness confirmed the account with the victim, he called law enforcement.

The deputy met with the victim, who requested that the witness stay with him, and the victim reportedly said the incident took place in mid-to-late October 2022. He said Chell was his coach at the time and that he and a friend were supposed to ride home with Chell on that date, but the friend got sick and went home early, leaving him to ride home alone with Chell. He said they were driving back to Gainesville from a flag football game in Ocala when Chell reached over and touched him inappropriately for about five minutes; he said he froze because he did not know what to do.

A detective reported that he spoke with the victim’s friend, who said the victim had first mentioned the incident about a year ago and had gradually revealed more details in the last few months. The friend said someone else heard them talking about the incident and told others, and eventually a teacher overheard the conversations.

A forensic interview was conducted with the victim at the Child Advocacy Center, and the victim said the incident happened when he was 11, about 10 minutes into the drive on the way home from a flag football game in Ocala.

The detective researched St. Patrick’s sports calendar and found a flag football tournament between October 17 and October 21, 2022; he checked a list of locations for away games on the school’s website and determined that if the incident took place within 10 minutes of leaving the field, it would have happened in Marion County because all of the fields were 20-30 minutes away from the county line.

The detective reported that he found probable cause to charge Chell with lewd or lascivious molestation on a victim under the age of 12 and forwarded the investigation to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

Chell was arrested on a Marion County warrant on March 17 and remains in the Alachua County Jail.

Chell has two felony convictions (one violent) and one misdemeanor conviction (violent); 18 felony charges related to inappropriate behavior with girls between the ages of 12 and 16 were dropped as part of the plea deal in which Judge David Kreider ordered adjudication of guilt withheld and sentenced Chell to 195 days in jail with credit for 195 days served, followed by five years of probation.

Bail information is not currently available.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.