On a list of the city's 150 most-wanted criminals. He was teaching.
Feb 14, 2008 - Police issued the arrest warrant in 2006. Charges were dropped when a witness did not appear. The charges were later refiled, and a warrant was issued at that time but efforts to re-arrest him were unsuccessful.When Philadelphia police issued their much-ballyhooed list of the city's 150 most-wanted criminals last week, it turned out that one of them - accused of raping a teenage girl - wasn't really that hard to find after all.
Arnesx Honore was exactly where he's been since late summer of 2003 - teaching math to 8th-grade boys at a city alternative school in North Philadelphia.
When police learned of the rape allegations in April 2006, the girl, then 17, had a 3-year-old girl she said Honore has fathered. She also told them that he had impregnated her three other times. At least two resulted in abortions, and, according to the report, the girl said after her second pregnancy that Honore said "if she didn't have an abortion he was going to kick her ass and do it for her." He was arrested four months later. Honore listed his profession on police records as a teacher.
"Everyone knew all along he was teaching, but if there was an invalid address and it was the middle of the summer, maybe the D.A.'s office [should have] waited until he got back to work at the school," Deputy Police Commissioner Patricia Fox said. "It was their warrant; however, in a perfect world, we would have known and collaborated."
The school learned about his arrest a year ago. School officials did not know the assault had involved a minor, Kevin Feeley, CEP official added. "We saw that the charges were withdrawn, and he remained employed," Feeley said. They discovered the arrest during a routine check of records last year. They determined that it was a "domestic dispute."
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ARRESTED Arnesx Honore, 32, a math teacher at the Hunting Park campus of Community Education Partners (CEP) since 2003, was arrested on charges of rape, assault and sexual abuse of a minor.The 12 charges filed Aug. 22, 2006, include drape, aggravated indecent sexual assault, statutory sexual assault, sexual abuse of a minor, and related offenses.
On Aug. 2, 2006, while police were investigating, Honore allegedly went to her house and threatened to blow it up and kill her, her guardian and the daughter after finding out that the teenager was with another man, the affidavit said.
The case was scheduled for hearings four times, but the charges were withdrawn June 13, 2007, records show. That was because the student was reluctant to testify.
Honore is not certified. It is not required for the position, but they must be taking courses toward certification. Community Education Partners operates three schools for disruptive and low-performing students in the city under a 2000 contract.
JAILED Feb 20 - Judge Eugene Maier dropped the forcible rape charge, saying there was not enough evidence. Honore, who had been out on bail, was ordered held on $20,000 bail.
FIRED Feb 21 - Honore has been fired. Clarification: In addition to the forcible rape charge, the judge dismissed sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault charges, for lack of evidence.
PUBLIC DEFENDER March 19 - Honore will get a public defender. A pretrial conference is scheduled for April 16.
GUILTY PLEA July 3 - After 13 of 14 charges were dropped since his February arrest, either by a judge or the district attorney, Honore pleaded guilty to one count of corrupting the morals of a minor.
The girl refused to cooperate with authorities after filing charges that she had been forcibly raped in 2006. She failed to show up for court five times.Both Assistant District Attorney William Harris and attorney Gabriel Levin, who represents Honore, agreed that he should get probation, but the judge will decide the length of his probation at his Aug. 26 sentencing.
Both attorneys say Honore had a consensual relationsip with the teen since she was 14. She had a baby girl on June 30, 2003 - which later, through DNA tests, was proved to be Honore's - and a subsequent pregnancy ended in an abortion.
At a Feb. 20 preliminary hearing, the girl testified that she lied about her age when she met Honore and claimed to have no contact with him until she was 17, when she moved in with him. Another judge dropped the more serious charges at that time.
