Ex- Survivor contestant and school headmaster faces 40 years in prison for taping students mouths shut

John Raymond, aged 62, who is also a Louisiana pastor and was once contestant on Survivor, put tape on the heads of three students to keep their mouths closed because they were talking too much.

On Monday, September 23, a jury in the parish found Raymond, of Lacombe, guilty of three felony charges of cruelty to juveniles. The St. Tammany Parish Court clerk confirmed his actions to PEOPLE.

Raymond, who has served as headmaster of Lakeside Christian School in Slidell, a city in St. Tammany Parish, United States, was also convicted of second-degree cruelty to juveniles. This is because he put his hand over the mouth of a four-year-old boy who was having a tantrum which prevented him from breathing and made him go "limp," police said in a statement.

Another local publication, NOLA.com, reports that Raymond refused to accept the guilty verdict. After it was passed down he said: “I’m not guilty. I’ve never been cruel to a child, and I love children.”

Instead, Raymond said he was a victim of “cancel culture," NOLA.com reports. His legal troubles began on April 7, 2022, when the Slidell Police Department arrested him after receiving a complaint from the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) about potential child abuse at the school, the department said in a statement.

The complaint stated that Raymond taped multiple students’ mouths shut as a form of discipline. Slidell Police then launched an investigation that found that several 13-year-old students had been removed from a class due to excessive talking, the statement said.

“John Raymond became angry and brought the students to his office,” it said. “At some point, Raymond took a roll of packing tape and taped the students’ mouths shut by wrapping the tape around their heads."

The statement went on: "Raymond allegedly sent the students back to class for around 45 minutes before another school administrator felt uncomfortable with the situation and removed the tape from the students’ faces.”

On May 9 2022, police arrested him again and charged him with one count of cruelty to a juvenile when a four-year-old who would have “occasional tantrums” was crying and screaming, police said in a statement.

“Raymond allegedly placed his hand over the boy’s nose and mouth (preventing him from breathing) to the point of him going “limp,” the statement said. It continued: “A staff member told Raymond to stop, and then observed the boy ‘out of it and lethargic,’ ‘unable to stand,’ and saw ‘mucous’ come out of the boy’s nose, as he attempted to breathe.”

In another incident Raymond, who was a contestant on Survivor: Thailand in 2002, allegedly held the boy upside down by his ankles and repeatedly “whipped him on the buttocks,” the statement said.

He was remanded to the St. Tammany Parish Jail and was released on $100,000 (around £75,000) bond on Tuesday September 24. His sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday October 23. He faces up to 40 years in prison.