Law&Crime Sidebar - Principal Accused of Turning Blind Eye to His Son’s Sexual Abuse of 5-Year-Old Girl

Episode Date: May 26, 2023

A Pennsylvania elementary school principal was charged with “willingly” failing to report the alleged sexual abuse of a 5-year-old girl at the hands of his 19-year-old son. Fifty-one-year-old Gregory Mandalas allegedly turned a blind eye to the perverted acts of his son, Matthew Mandalas. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy discusses the investigation with Florina Altshiler, a defense attorney with a specialty in the Child Victims Act and sexual misconduct defense.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Save 10% on your entire POM Pepper Spray order by using code LAWCRIME10 at http://bit.ly/3IGNFxvLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergWriting & Video Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaDevil In The DormThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Today we are here to discuss recent charges against Gregory Mandelaus. He's charged with persons required to report suspected child abuse. A school principal charged in connection with a sex crime, but it may not be what you think, the allegations and charges involved ahead. I've covered a lot of crime stories over the years, many of them here at law and crime, and it really gets me thinking about how we can all stay safe. Well, this is Palm Pepper Spray, and it can help you do just that. It's a small but mighty self-defense

tool. Palm Pepper Spray shoots up to 12 feet using the strongest legal form of pepper spray available. It's safe and easy. You just point and spray. And if you want to try it, you can get 10% off. Use the promo code Law Crime 10 when you log on to palmpeperspray.com. And remember, if you or anyone else is ever in danger, always dial 911. Gregory Mandelaus is an elementary school principal in Pennsylvania. He faces one charge for not reporting sexual abuse when he found out about it. He's on indefinite leave from the Knox School District outside of Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania State Police say this sexual abuse did not involve a student at the school where Mandelaus was the principal. Rather, the allegations of sexual abuse involve Mandelaus's adult son, who's 19 and a five-year-old girl. This case was brought to the attention of the Pennsylvania State Police Crime Unit in August of 2022.

So through a child-line report. Mandelis' son, Matthew Mandelis, faces a felony charge of corruption of a minor and misdemeanor indecent assault on a child younger than 13. As a school principal, Gregory Mandelis is required to report any type of abuse the moment he finds out about it. Mended reporters include a variety of professions, including law enforcement, school employees, health services, and the list goes on and on. So you are required to report it in a timely manner. and Mr. Mandela's failed to do that. So the reason why this is an important section is that the mandated reporting system

and child find the urgent reporting allows for that the victims is there so that we keep the victim safe from the alleged actor and also keep future victims safe. Trooper Bertha Casey went on to discuss what is required of a mandatory reporter. Mandated reporting, that it's important for them to report it while they're at their professions. So while you're doing your duties and also during your personal life, so once you become a mandated reporter, you're never really off. So even in your personal life, anything happens. So like, for example, law enforcement, even when we're off duty, anything reported to us, we're still required to report that in a timely manner to the correct

services. Florina Outschiller is a former sex crimes prosecutor, currently a defense attorney, and just all around good person. Thanks a lot, Florina, for coming back on Sidebar. We appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me. Great case we're going to be talking about today. Yeah, it's an interesting case. I want you to tell me just your first reaction to this.

We have an elementary school principal. This doesn't involve a student, but it does involve him allegedly knowing about sexual abuse committed allegedly by his son. And he didn't report it, according to what Pennsylvania State Police say. So your first thoughts upon learning of this case? It's a horrific situation. It's shocking. I could see the conflict as a parent, but this is not a person who should be teaching or working in or a principal at an elementary school. If someone cannot have the moral virtue to do the right thing and report somebody who is allegedly abusing a child, then they should not be working with

children. And that's the thing about this. This involved his son, Matthew, who is facing felony charge of corruption of minors and a misdemeanor indecent assault on a person less than 13 years of age. The Knox School, where Gregory Mandelaus was the principal, teaches children from kindergarten to third grade. So this is a child that could be the age of a child in his school, a student in his school. And yet they're saying he knew about this. He's what's called a mandatory reporter. So it doesn't matter if he's off work or not. He finds out about abuse. He has a duty and a requirement under the law to report it. So it kind of makes you wonder, goodness me, has anything else ever happened? We know at this point, these are allegations. But this apparently happened last August. And

we're now just hearing about charges at this point. Right. And to be clear, he's not accused of abusing a child. His adult son is. But as a mandatory reporter and as somebody who works with young children and with the victim in this case, allegedly being only five years old, there's really no gray area. There's no question of consent or how could this happen? A five-year-old is a child that is a very clear line. There's no question here. And so if something happened, it's not appropriate and it's criminal and he should report it. And that's that. I really don't see where there's a question. I could see how there's a conflict because this is your own adult child that's allegedly doing this. And so as a parent,

There's that hesitation to report your own child of committing a crime. However, you're a principal at an elementary school working with five-year-old kids. So this is not a job that this person should have if they can't do the right thing in a situation that's really not all that great. I want to put a statement from the school up on the screen. And it says the district learned this afternoon that criminal charges have been filed against Dr. Greg Mandalus, principal of knock primary school. Due to the serious nature of the charges, Dr. Mandelaus has been placed on indefinite administrative leave. It is the district's understanding that the charges and alleged conduct of Dr. Mandales do not

involve a knock school district student. This is a confidential personnel matter, which districts don't, you know, talk about that stuff. Therefore, I am unable to provide specific details at this time. However, I will work with the solicitor's office to provide as much information as legally permitted moving forward. So basically they're saying he's done. He is not going to be the principal of this school anymore. Indefinitely, they're not going to be able to ever trust him again as far as they're concerned. But my question is, Florina, these things do not happen in a vacuum. His son Matthew is 19 years old. And if this is indeed true, and it sounds like this was possibly discovered somewhat

recently because it happened in August of 2022 last year now we're seeing criminal charges these things don't typically happen in a vacuum so is there more i'm wondering if we're going to hear about more involving his son his adult son matthew but i mean who knows what you could come up with i i don't think this just starts at 19 years of age that you do something like this i would not be surprised to learn that his son was interested in young children from a younger age and that there were instances of inappropriate sexual conduct with children, you know, going back to maybe when he was in junior high school where it was brushed off because, you know, he's 11 with a four-year-old and he's a child himself at age 11. And then he's doing this when he's 15 and then

he's doing this when he's 17 and now he's doing this when he's 19. So I think the parents conveniently turned a blind eye to prior behavior if there was prior behavior. And I think that it escalated. Like you're saying, it does not start at age 19. It does start somewhere and it starts with small steps. And it starts with people who know turning a blind eye to it and not intervening and allowing the conduct to continue. And that raises questions then. about, and we're speaking kind of hypothetically here because these people are innocent until proven guilty, but it raises questions about whether or not things were done in the past. If there were past incidents, the parents were aware of to cover this up. Because that's

basically what's being claimed here is that he didn't report it. He was required, had a duty, even if he's off work, and it involves his son to do something about this. And that's kind of what bothers me. He says, I guess he said in, on a post, online in 20 at some point he said we love what we do and we care about kids this is what he said I'm sure he does love what he does and cares about kids he had been with this school since 2016 he's no longer going to be working there so what do you think of that I mean he's saying on one hand he loves kids and cares about them but then now he's accused of not reporting abuse because it involves his son and he wants to protect his son right he cares about kids he

just doesn't care about the kids that his own son is abusing and that's very consistent And obviously that's not a true statement. Look, there's a conflict here. This is your own child. It is not easy to report your own child of committing a crime. I think a lot of people may hesitate to do that. However, the right thing to do is obviously to report it. Now, it's a little bit more complicated here because he's a mandated reporter. So it's not even a question of what the right thing to do is. It's a question of what the legal thing. to do it's he has to report it he's legally obligated to report it and he should not be working at a school if that's not something he's able to do i understand that's his son this isn't you know reporting some stranger abusing another stranger but we're talking about sexual abuse of a five-year-old we're not talking about someone stealing a candy bar and saying well it's my child maybe i'll brush it off and they won't do it again. We're talking about your child who's not a child, who's 19, is an adult now, doing sexually inappropriate things with a five-year-old, a five-year-old, not a 17-year-old,

not a 15-year-old, no gray area question of consent, maybe they were drunk, maybe they wanted it, none of that. That does not apply here, unequivocally. I see no gray area here. I see no way of saying this is a misunderstanding. Well, Florina Altschiller, we really appreciate your time, as always. We'll be following this case. I do want to mention that Dr. Greg Mandela's is going to be turning himself in at a later date. That's what his attorney has arranged with the Pennsylvania State Police. So we'll continue to follow the case and see if anything else comes of it.

Thanks again for your time. Thanks for having me. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime's Sidebar Podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this Law and Crime series,

ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.