Joshua Goen Obituary, Death – Yesterday we released a news statement from Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office on the former Seagraves ISD staff member Joshua Goen. This suicide took place days after being released from jail. Goen was accused of taping female pupils in their locker area without their consent. The Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office received the call about a death investigation at about 10:15 a.m. on Friday.
Deputies arrived at Goens parent’s residence near Shallowater, they found 43-year-old Goen deceased with a single self-inflicted gunshot wound. The medical examiner was notified, and the sheriff’s office said this event continues under investigation.
Seagraves ISD made this statement, “Our sincere condolences go out to the whole Goen family. We are a tiny town and we all cry with the family for their loss and we will all gather together to support them in their time of bereavement.” Gaines County Sheriff’s officers, with aid from the Seagraves Police Department, arrested Goen on Monday, Dec. 5 on a charge of invasive visual recording. Goen bonded out of the Gaines County Jail on Tuesday, Dec. 6. Hale Center ISD’s Superintendent Steven Pyburn said the inquiry into Goen began after the girls’ high school basketball team played a game at Seagraves ISD on Nov. 15.
Pyburn said when the Hale Center ISD team entered the Seagraves ISD visiting team’s locker room, they observed something that looked like a phone charger. The participants did not think anything of it, but did set down a speaker in front of the gadget, which they subsequently found was a camera. Pyburn remarked fortunately, the speaker concealed the view of the females changing. After the game, a Hale Center ISD athlete seized the gadget, assuming it belonged to one of her teammates.
Pyburn stated she carried it on the bus and no one claimed it, so it was left there. The next day, Pyburn said an 8th-grade kid was on that same bus, observed the device, and identified it as a camera. The student took it to the Hale Center ISD dean of students who then notified and gave it over to the county’s school resource officer. Which at the time spurred a broad-scale investigation including the FBI, Homeland Security, Hale County Sheriff’s Office, Gaines County Sheriff’s Department, and Seagraves Police Department.
Seagraves ISD’s school board and officials claimed they learned of this probe on Nov. 22. The school board held an emergency meeting and voted to place Goen on paid administrative leave at the moment. Principal Daylan Sellers (Seagraves High School) is now serving as interim superintendent. The Seagraves school board had scheduled a meeting for Monday, December 12 that has now been moved to Tuesday, December 13 at 7 p.m.
