Venice, FLORIDA

Feb 22, 2008 - Diana Z. O’Neill, 45, a special education teacher at Venice Middle School, was arrested Thursday for abuse of mentally handicapped students in her classroom.

In January, police received information from the Department of Children and Families regarding of abuse allegations. As the investigation progressed, two teacher's aides for O'Neill, corroborated the allegations. [Clarification from other stories: The aides took their concerns to the school principal who contacted the Department of Children and Families who then contacted police.]

In interviews, both aides reported they saw O'Neill lash out at the children and maliciously punish them by hitting, kicking and improperly restraining them. The witnesses reported that they had seen numerous acts of violence toward the children during the school year and they felt the incidents were increasingly dangerous to the health of the children.

The four victims in the case are all younger than 11 years old.

Tampa 10 reports that O'Neill is charged with four counts of Aggravated Child Abuse by Torturing, Punishing or Caging.

Tampa 10 provides a link to the Probable Cause Affidavits. PDF

CHARGED July 26 - The state attorney is charging O'Neill with four counts of child abuse, a lesser offense than the aggravated child abuse charges the Venice Police Department arrested her on in February.

Police records also indicate that O'Neill, 45, had been "talked to" in the past for similar behavior. But there is no record that any concerns were ever reported to the police or the school district to investigate. Arraignment is scheduled for August 8.

PRIOR CONCERNS August 12 - An investigative report released Monday by the school district details instances dating back to 2005 involving O'Neill. Concerns about O'Neill never triggered a formal investigation or a call to the state abuse hot line.

Some teachers who suspected abuse and reported it to Baus were reprimanded for spreading gossip. And O'Neill stayed in the classroom, responsible for the well-being of a handful of the most vulnerable students in the district.

The school's principal, Theresa Baus, warned O'Neill to watch her behavior, and passed complaints about the teacher on to district officials who left it up to Baus to handle.

The district's investigation was done by a private investigator hired to look into the most recent allegations against O'Neill and determine whether she can still work for the district.

According to the private investigator's report, Baus said that O'Neill's aides may not have come forward sooner with their complaints about the teacher because they were afraid of the union.

"Diana is a senior union representative," Baus told investigators, the report says. "They were probably a little afraid of Diana, afraid of losing their jobs."

The union, the newspaper reported, was paying O'Neill's defense attorneys after she was arrested. Gardner would not say whether the union continues to pay O'Neill's legal bills.