Incident/Complaint#: 50-18-23130
Date/Time: July of 1989-May of 1990
Location: See Narrative
Officer Releasing Information: M/Cpl. Mark Hoffman, Public Information Officer
Narrative:
The Dover Police Department has charged a retired Capital School District teacher with ten counts of unlawful sexual intercourse for incidents relating to a then 14-year-old female. Detectives were contacted on July 11th by the victim (now 43 years old) who advised that Carl Fennell (73) used to be her tennis mentor beginning at age 14. The victim advised detectives that between July of 1989 and May of 1990, Fennell would transport her to the tennis courts at Delaware Technical and Community College (100 Campus Drive, Dover, DE) to use the courts for lessons. After each practice, Fennell would have the victim perform sexual acts on him in a vehicle.
After obtaining the victim’s statement, detectives contacted Carl Fennell. Fennell agreed to an interview with detectives at the Dover Police Department. During this interview, Fennell admitted that he did mentor the victim during the time frame of the allegations. Fennell also admitted that the sexual acts did occur at least 10 times, but not more than 20 while the victim was 14 and 15 years old. Fennell was an employee with the Capital School District from 1969-2001.
On August 6, 2018, Fennell was indicted by a Grand Jury on 10 counts of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse 1st Degree. On August 8th, 2018, Fennell turned himself in at the Dover Police Department and was formally charged. Bond information is not available at this time.
