12/13/2025
Good morning
I first want to thank everyone for their patience and support during this unfortunate time. It has been a very challenging few months. I am here to make my statement about the recent post about myself and to clarify the misinformation that has been posted. As you are aware, earlier this year my wife and I decided to end our marriage. It was a mutual decision to file for divorce due to a breakdown of the relationship. A few weeks after she decided to come forward with a incident that occurred over 2 years ago. During this time, child had become difficult and began to make death threats to members of the family and disappearing. The police were called several times. One evening, he grabbed a knife and was acting strangely. This scared his mother, she called the police and he was taken to the emergency room where he was later admitted to the hospital where he remained for 2 weeks. When he was discharged his behavior hadn’t changed and the erratic episodes continued. The night in question, he was acting erratically and his siblings were scared, I tried to claim him down. He had become aggressive and angry exasperating the already concerning erratic behaviors. I was afraid he was going to hurt everyone or himself, so I subdue him. I had no malice intentions; my only goal was to deescalate the situation and protect everyone in the home. The proceedings began in July; Danbury Family Services conducted their investigation first. They made their recommendations that the charges be dropped. She opposed the recommendation which caused me to go back and forth over the next few months. On November 18th the preliminary conclusion was reached, The information from Danbury court’s website is inaccurate as the charge of strangulation was dropped and under the recommendation of my legal council I entered a plea deal for the child endangerment charge. I am to appear in court in May to have the charges dropped after completing the court’s recommend class series. During this time Allegations of sexual abuse were reported to New York State Child Protective Services by my ex-wife. After they conducted their forensic investigation, they found that the allegations are false and closed the case. They have since informed me that my ex-wife has a file and she has been investigated in 3 different districts and that they have call Danbury with their findings and a recommendation that a investigation be conducted into her.
As for the business, I had relinquished my ownership a few years back so that I could focus on the parts I truly enjoy, teaching. I wanted to focus more on teaching and building a better program. At the beginning of this year, we worked to create a new name and logo. The plan has always been to announce the change at the end of the year and begin 2026 with Anna as the sole owner. As well as to announce that I would be taking some time away from the school.
I know that I can be tough, but I have always been fair and put the students first. I care more about the students than you realize. I have expedited my decision to take a leave of absence effective immediately. This situation has caused too much stress and pain, and it isn’t fair to the students and families being negatively impacted by the ongoing situation. I will continue with the court proceedings and recommendations to finally put this behind me. I am proud to announce Sensei Demitri has official become the new chief instructor and I have faith in him and his abilities to teach all students at the highest level.
I wish everyone the best.
Shihan David Baez
Master Instructor
