Southern Adventist University Student Charged: Inappropriate Behavior with a Minor

By AT News Team, April 2, 2015:   Ari T. Guindon, a physical education major at Southern Adventist University (SAU), has been charged by the Collegedale Police with sending a teenage girl explicit, inappropriate photos via an Internet app called Snapchat. The young adult was interviewed at the police station in the college town near Chattanooga, Tennessee, yesterday by WTVC Channel 9 television news.

Guindon is a member of a campus student organization called Gym Masters which produces acrobatic performances and teaches gymnastics classes for teens and children. Police believe that through the gymnastics program he became acquainted with the victim.

SAU staff reported the allegations to the local police. Guindon was immediately suspended by the university and within a few days expelled from the campus. He is currently banned from coming onto the campus, according to WTVC Channel 9 news.

The university has denied that the allegations have anything to do with Guindon’s membership in the Gym Masters acrobatic team. It released the following statement: “On the evening of March 3, SAU became aware of alleged inappropriate communications between senior physical education major Ari Guindon and two minors. Within minutes of notification, a faculty member contacted Guindon to discuss the allegations at which point Guindon was advised to seek counseling. The university continued its internal review of this situation and the student’s enrollment status.”

Guindon was removed from any classwork that required interaction with minors two days later on March 5. He surrendered to the police on April 1.

Guindon was quoted by WTVC Channel 9 news saying he is “very sorry” and “doing everything he can to make it right.”