Dock Mennonite Academy.
Officials from Dock Mennonite Academy publicly announced on Wednesday that High School Principal Martin Wiens has been placed on administrative leave following a locally-shared video on Facebook accusing him of having inappropriate contact with a male student.
The video was posted to Facebook on March 21 by 21-year-old Daniel Kabakjian, of Lower Salford, who stated that coming out publicly with his allegations was a last-ditch effort of sorts, given that he believes his efforts to seek action by speaking directly to the school and law enforcement had failed.
"I was compelled to release the video because, for about the past year, I was doing lots of different things to reveal this to the Dock administration and a number of different people, including the attorney general’s office, and it didn’t seem like anything had been done,” said Kabakjian. "I knew that there were people out there with experiences like mine, so I wanted to get the public to start talking about things that had been largely ignored for many, many years.”
In an interview with North Penn Now, Kabakjian stated that he had been attending schools in Souderton Area School District when he transferred to Dock in 2014 seeking a smaller, faith-based education. Kabakjian said he initially heard rumors from other students about Wiens regarding his alleged behavior towards male students, although he said it wasn’t until his senior year that he experienced them first-hand.
In the video, Kabakjian stated that during his senior year, he was having a rough time in life and confided in Wiens as a means to talk through his issues. However, Kabakjian stated that as the meetings progressed, Wiens allegedly began to engage in uncomfortably tight and long duration hugs and later encouraged him to meet outside of school.
Eventually, Kabakjian alleged that Wiens had smacked him on his buttocks as he departed one of the meetings, and he additionally stated that he witnessed Wiens referring to another male student as a "seductive hottie.”
Kabakjian said that he has spoken with dozens of other students who have made similar statements or accusations, and a review of the more than 500 comments posted beneath the video includes dozens of former students also posting similar experiences. However, court records show that Wiens has no criminal record in Pennsylvania, and multiple former students have come to his defense on the post.
Dock Mennonite Academy’s open letter to parents and students, posted on Facebook, notes that Wiens said he will cooperate fully with the investigation. The Dock statement reads, in part:
Dear Dock Parents and Students,
Dock Mennonite Academy has always and continues to give highest priority to our students’ safety and wellbeing. Both policies and practices help ensure Dock is diligent and accountable. Toward that goal, we want to update you on a situation that we are aware of and that was posted on social media on March 21. An alum has alleged that high school Principal Wiens repeatedly engaged in contact with him that made him uncomfortable, including an instance of touching the then-student on his buttocks.
The incident was previously reported to law enforcement, whom we understand have conducted a criminal investigation. Dock takes these accusations very seriously, and as such, the school has contracted with an experienced Delaware firm, D. Stafford & Associates, to conduct an administrative investigation to determine if a violation of school policy occurred.
As of March 24, interim steps have been taken by Dock as this investigation is initiated, including placing Principal Wiens on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Principal Wiens has stated that he plans to cooperate fully with the inquiry.
And later:
Additionally, D. Stafford & Associates has provided an email address where community members may write to provide their contact information should they want to receive a telephone or zoom follow up with an investigator. Persons who email should provide their name, email address and telephone number as well as the reason for their communication. Investigators will follow up with persons who have witnessed potential sexual harassment/misconduct of any kind or who themselves wish to report harming behavior. The email address for people to report being harmed by or witnessing sexual misconduct at Dock is [email protected].
Dock asks that you continue to pray for our school community and all people who care so deeply for this place. We commit to you that we will continue to encourage and validate student voices and experiences. We strive for healing and reconciliation and ultimately God’s Shalom for our Dock community.
We also want you to make you aware of school and community resources should you want to access them. If you have additional questions about this communication, please contact Dr. Swartzentruber, Superintendent. We will provide additional information to the community in the coming weeks.
Multiple Investigations Come Up Short on Evidence
In supporting documents provided to North Penn Now, Kabakjian highlights in explicit detail the lengths that he went to seek out officials to investigate his accusations.
Those efforts include contacting the Towamencin Township Police Department twice — once via an advocate and another initially under a pseudonym — as well as contacting the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and attending a pair of meetings with Dock Superintendent Dr. Conrad Swartzentruber.
On the school side, correspondence between Kabakjian and Swartzentruber shows that the two initially met in person to discuss the allegations on Dec. 30, 2020. "I emailed the superintendent and he got back to me. He said he took it very seriously, and we met a couple days later,” Kabakjian said. However, "I wasn’t very satisfied with the discussion, (and) we talked about it again a couple weeks later.” The second meeting was held Jan. 20.
Kabakjian said that a month or two after the second meeting, Dock Academy announced that Wiens would be retiring at the end of the school year.
"I don’t know if that was involved in any way [regarding our discussions],” said Kabakjian.
Those meetings with Swartzentruber were preceded by a pair of accusations made to the Towamencin Township Police Department, as well as a formal complaint that was sent to Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
The first local investigation began in September 2019 and was made via an advocate for Kabakjian. The second local investigation occurred on April 5, 2020, via Kabakjian himself, though initially under a pseudonym to protect his identity.
Following the April 5 complaint, investigators directly notified the school of the accusations.
Kabakjian said contact with local investigators was sparse and ultimately led to no resolution, which is why he reached out to Shapiro’s office on June 26, 2020. In response, Kabakjian received the following letter from the attorney general’s office, six minutes after the complaint was sent:
"Thank you for contacting the Office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro. We have received your correspondence regarding allegations against Martin Wiens. We take this matter very seriously, and we’ve directed it to the attention of our Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
The Office of Attorney General does not comment on any current or pending investigations. However, we will contact you if we need your assistance in this matter.”
Kabakjian said he never heard from their office again, and felt as though the silence meant that investigators were not taking his claims seriously. It appears, however, that law enforcement did in fact act on Kabakjian’s accusations, but a lack of substantiating evidence ultimately led to a lack of charges being filed.
In an interview with North Penn Now, Towamencin Township Police Chief Tim Troxel confirmed that both investigations occurred.
"There were two different allegations involving the same principal doing the same thing, but from two different people at two different times,” said Troxel.
The two investigations ultimately overlapped, and upon their conclusion, investigators took their evidence to the district attorney to discuss if there was enough to file charges. At that time, Troxel said investigators from the Montgomery County Detective Bureau launched their own parallel investigation.
"Due to the fact that there were questions regarding if we had enough evidence to charge, they ultimately assigned one of their detectives to join the investigation,” said Troxel. "In all the instances, however, the determination was made that there wasn’t sufficient evidence uncovered that would warrant criminal charges.”
Though charges have not been filed, that doesn’t mean that investigators didn’t believe Kabakjian’s accusations. On the contrary, Troxel said investigators viewed Kabakjian's testimony as credible and backed Kabakjian's statement that detectives said Wiens was "highly suspicious."
At the current time, there is no longer an investigation stemming from Kabakjian’s claims.
"I’m very confident we conducted a full and complete investigation, and that we went above and beyond in our due diligence in seeking assistance from the district attorney's office,” said Troxel.
A Questionable Background
Prior to his arrival at the Dock Mennonite Academy, Wiens was an instructor and counselor at the now-defunct CEDU Educational Services Inc. — a controversial boarding school with programs in California and Idaho that were frequently referred to as a cult by the media and had a history of child abuse allegations.
A Google search of the terms "Martin Wiens CEDU” returns more than a dozen links from former students making a variety of accusations and allegations, regarding his behavior towards them while he served in an instructor and counselor capacity at the California facility from sometime in the late 1980s through the late 1990s.
Many of the posts come from dated message boards and subreddits for troubled teens. Wiens was even mentioned in a CEDU documentary by filmmaker Liam Scheff, in which one former student alleges that he was strip-searched by Wiens while attending the boarding school.
Other posts dating back to 2008 show former students corresponding with Dock officials regarding Wiens' employment with the academy, in an effort to notify them of the existing allegations.
Finding a Way to Move Forward
Kabakjian said that what has happened to him will be lasting, but he plans to continue to seek out a resolution to his allegations.
"I would like to see that, in one way or another, that Martin is never able to work closely with youth again,” Kabakjian said. "[To me], he has demonstrated that he does not have a suitable character or recognition of boundaries to be able to safely and appropriately do that.”
Kabakjian added that he hopes criminal charges will eventually be brought against his former principal, and in the interim, he has not ruled out hiring an attorney and pursuing the matter in civil court if necessary.
And though the ordeal may have shaken Kabakjian’s trust in humanity, it has only served to strengthen his faith.
"I’ve been really encouraged in my personal faith,” said Kabakjian. "I’ve been hurt and deeply saddened by the fact that the world is in the state that it’s in. But I’ve been encouraged to know that Christ has died for me, that he took my sins upon himself and that he’s made a way out of this incredible sinful mess we’re in.”
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