4 Accused of Running ‘Makeshift Child Fight Club’ at School

Police arrested four Arkansas educators this week for their alleged involvement in what authorities described as a “makeshift child fight club.”

Craighead County District Judge David Boling found probable cause to charge Mary Tracy Morrison, Michael Bean, Kristin Bell, and Kathrine Lipscomb with permitting child abuse after a court hearing on April 21, reports KAIT.

Prosecuting attorney Sonia Hagood said in court that she filed the charges against the four educators after a video of an incident at The Delta Institute for the Developing Brain surfaced online.

A teacher can be heard instructing a student to hit another boy “in the private area” at one point in the footage, Hagood said.

The prosecutor said in court that Morrison was the alleged “ringleader of this makeshift child fight club” while asking that her bail be set at $250,000.

All four surrendered themselves willingly after learning warrants had been place for their arrest on April, reports The Jonesboro Sun.

The Sun also identified Morrison, 50, as the owner of the school and Lipscomb, 45, as a teacher. Bean, 38, and Bell, 36, are both parents of students at the school, according to the outlet.

Hagood had requested that the judge set Lipscomb’s bail at $100,000 in court. “This one sat there the entire time, witnessing the abuse. If you had seen what I saw, you would be just as outraged as I am,” Hagood said.

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Craighead County jail records show that the judge did set Lipscomb’s bail at $100,000 while both Bell and Bean were ordered held on $10,000 bail.

The lawyers for all four defendants had not seen the video in question prior to the hearing on Monday, April 21. Morrison’s lawyer, Paul Stanley, told the judge that the arrest affidavit filed for his clients and her three co-defendants was “insufficient.”

Jonesboro Right Now reported that all four defendants were released shortly after being booked into jail on April 21.

They will next appear in Craighead County Circuit Court on May 22.

Hagood requested in court on Monday that all filings related to the case be sealed for 90 days while she continues her investigation into the school.