Former Rock Ridge dean faces new sexual assault charge in Minnesota
A former Rock Ridge dean now faces a Minnesota sexual assault charge tied to a student he taught and coached, even as he remains jailed on Georgia charges.
Christopher John Chad, the former Rock Ridge High School dean of students from Eveleth, was charged in Virginia, Minnesota, with sexually assaulting a former student while he remained jailed in Georgia on child-exploitation allegations. The new case adds in-person abuse accusations in St. Louis County to a legal fight that already included a Fulton County, Georgia, warrant for obscene internet contact with a child.
The allegations stretch from 2021 to 2023, when the student was 14 to 16 years old. Charging documents allege Chad exchanged thousands of messages with the student through social media apps including Grindr and Snapchat, and that there were at least five separate instances of sexual contact. At least one alleged assault took place on school grounds in Gilbert. The former student told investigators on Dec. 4, 2025.
Chad was arrested on March 18, 2025, and booked into the St. Louis County jail at 7:29 p.m. that night before being extradited to Fulton County, Georgia, on April 7, 2025. In March, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said it had no reason to believe there were local victims, and Rock Ridge Superintendent Noel Schmidt said law enforcement had no information indicating students were involved. Schmidt has since declined comment on the new Minnesota charge and said Chad no longer works for the district.
Chad served as teacher, speech coach, principal and dean of students at different points in the Virginia and Eveleth-Gilbert consolidation that created Rock Ridge Public Schools, and coached One Act Play and served as assistant spring play director. He had been hired as dean of students in August 2024 at a salary of $90,420 after 13 years in the Rock Ridge and former Eveleth-Gilbert districts and 20 years in education overall.
Rock Ridge Public Schools was formed by consolidating the former Virginia and Eveleth-Gilbert districts, and Rock Ridge High School opened as part of that merger in 2023. Rock Ridge Secondary now enrolls about 1,114 students in grades 7 through 12. The Minnesota case remains active, and no trial date or final resolution has been announced.
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