The owner of a martial arts school in Monroe County said Tuesday he is being proactive after one of his instructors was accused of raping a young student.
The owner is now talking to parents and students and even getting other professionals involved.
Although the alleged crime did not happen at Pocono Crimson Dragon Martial Arts School in Pocono Summit, the owner said it is affecting other instructors, students and parents.
Anthony Gilbert owns Pocono Crimson Dragon. He is also an instructor and worked along side Stephen Rementer, 27, of Tobyhanna.
Rementer faces child sex charges after police said he raped a girl who was his karate student.
"The fact that he did all that and fooled everybody is really what blindsided us the most," Gilbert said. He added he did a background check on Rementer and it showed no problems. "He was a student beforehand and worked his way up here. That's why it's such a shock."
Gilbert said his number one priority is student safety. One example is a video camera in the school which records all of the students' actions in the training area.
The video then streams live back into the waiting area, where all of the parents are watching their children.
Gilbert said parents continue to show support for the school through phone calls, emails and postings on Facebook.
"Things like we support you, they're in our prayers, we know that this doesn't reflect on you and the school, along those general lines," said Gilbert.
He is now reaching out to current and former students and parents.
"Some parents don't even know how to talk to their kids about something like that, so we're having outside members of the community come in who know about that type of stuff to lead parents in a direction on how to constructively tell their kids," Gilbert added.
The owner of Pocono Crimson Dragon will hold a meeting with parents and students to talk about about the case.
The instructor, Stephen Rementer, is in jail.