Former Grapeland Substitute Arrested For Indecent Material
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – Former Grapeland Independent School District (GISD) full-time substitute teacher Joshua Jeremain Kincade was arrested Apr. 9 on charges of displaying harmful material to a child. The arrest stems from an incident which allegedly took place in a Grapeland Junior High theater class, sometime in 2023, when Kincade told the alleged victim to “flex,” offering to show her pictures of what he meant. The arrest report states 44-year-old Kincade offered to show the young student pictures of what he meant and while showing her pictures on his phone, an image of an unknown black male naked was visible to the student.
The victim told Grapeland Police Department (GPD) Kincade left the image visible, before looking directly at the victim, who pretended not to notice and returned to her friends. The victim alleged Kincade stopped her later and told her not to tell anyone about the picture. The victim claimed she said she would say nothing.
It was only in late February of this year, after hearing Kincade had been fired for an unrelated reason, the victim came forward and told her story to one of her teachers. The teacher immediately contacted GISD administration, who even though Kincade was no longer employed at the school, contacted GPD and the child was interviewed about the incident.
The victim, along with another student, corroborated the incident. GPD Chief Richard Lewis completed his investigation, leading to the arrest of Kincade, who posted a $10,000 bond and was released the next day.
These are the alleged facts of the story, according to the arrest report obtained by The Messenger.
Since then, there has been confusion over Kincade’s hiring and The Messenger dug further into the details of the case.
Contacting GISD Superintendent Dr. David Maass, The Messenger learned Kincade had advised GISD before he was hired, some issues would pop up in any background check. Kincade had been arrested and accused of possession of child pornography in 2013, while serving on the Neches ISD school board. Although Kincade had been hired before Maass’ arrival to the district last year, Maass was concerned and contacted the district’s lawyers. They informed Maass since the charges had been dismissed, this could not be legally used against Kincade.
Maas said although Kincade had been dismissed from GISD when the allegations came forward, he said the district’s processes in place had been effective – the allegation was made around noon and the authorities were working the case by the end of the day. While he wishes the student had come forward sooner, Maass understands she may have not felt comfortable doing so, but GISD staff are strictly trained to pass on any such reports immediately, and did so.
The Messenger was contacted by the victim’s family, who were concerned about why other, seemingly previous allegations of wrongdoing against Kincade were not detected in the background check. They said their daughter is a strong young lady, bolstered by her faith, and they were proud of her for coming forward and, “not being a victim.”
While these older allegations were not able to be independently verified by press time, the victim’s family said background checks should be much more stringent, to make sure children are not victims of anyone with a past. They also said teachers’ cell phones should not be shown or shared with students for any reason, which could lead to such incidences.
April is Child Abuse Awareness Month and The Messenger hopes all allegations made by children will be listened to and taken seriously. There are very competent investigators, right here in Houston County, who have the experience to decide what is likely to be true, and what could be false.
All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
