A St. Louis man was charged this week in connection with an alleged sex crime last year while he was a staff member of Camp Wartburg in Waterloo.

Matthew T. Hubbard, 40, of St. Louis, faces a felony charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department said that on Dec. 23, 2020, an investigation began after allegations were made regarding a sex assault. As the investigation was conducted, investigators learned a female juvenile had been sexually abused by an adult male staff member of Camp Wartburg. Investigators learned the staff member, identified as Hubbard, met the juvenile at the camp. A sexual relationship was formed by Hubbard and this juvenile that lasted between August and December 2020, police said.

“During the course of the investigation, it was obvious the suspect ‘groomed’ the juvenile victim by convincing her to isolate herself away from her friends and only hang out with him,” MCSD Sgt. Justin Biggs said. “This allowed the possibility of more time to sexually abuse the victim. During the investigation, investigators also learned the suspect took the female victim to other states, where the victim was sexually abused.”

MCSD investigators contacted the Martin City Police Department in Tennessee, where some of the alleged abuse occurred and where the suspect had fled after becoming aware of the investigation.

On Oct. 19, investigators were contacted by St. Louis Metropolitan Police and informed that Hubbard was being transported to a St. Louis hospital for a self-inflicted gunshot wound. On Tuesday, the MCSD finally took Hubbard into custody after he was released from the hospital.  

He remains at the Monroe County Jail on bond set at $100,000.

Police said it was learned during this investigation that Hubbard has had other previous local employment around juveniles.

Hubbard was employed at Camp Wartburg from May 2019 to Dec. 23, 2020. Prior to that, he worked at Caywoods Youth Center in Waterloo from May 2018 to July 2019 as a full-time employee and from September to October 2019 on a part-time basis, police said.

“Investigators have been in contact with management of both places,” Biggs said. “It should be noted that investigators have no evidence or belief that there are any other victims at this time. However, we have a duty to inform the citizens of what information we can within legal guidelines to make sure and confirm there are no additional victims.”

Anyone wishing to contact police in reference to this case may do so at 618-939-8651.

Camp Wartburg Executive Director Robert Polansky issued a statement regarding this case. The camp is located at 5705 LRC Road.

“First, our sympathies go out to the victim and her family for this deeply concerning situation. Our primary concern at Camp Wartburg is always for the safety and well-being of all our campers and staff. Up until now, our leadership could not comment on what was an active investigation,” Polansky said. “To clarify, the accused individual and victim were both employed at Camp Wartburg during the summer of 2020. To the best of our knowledge, none of the incidents in question occurred on camp property. On Dec. 23, 2020, Camp Wartburg leadership were made aware of the situation. The employee in question was immediately terminated and Camp Wartburg’s executive director reported the accusations to the local authorities for investigation.”