The letter was handwritten in pink ink and addressed “to whom it may concern.” In it, a Florida teenager warned school staff that her friend was struggling after being sexually assaulted by two boys.

“I have witnessed both of them not taking no for an answer,” wrote the student at Palm Beach Central High School, adding that for her 15-year-old friend, “many anxiety and panic attacks were caused by this leading to self-harm.”

The teen handed the note to her chorus teacher on June 16, 2021, asking that he get it to the right people. But, according to court records, the sexual assault allegations would not reach authorities for months — even as the letter was passed between leadership at the school in Wellington, about 70 miles north of Miami. Law enforcement officials would later find evidence corroborating the assault claims.

Now, the principal and four other Palm Beach County School District employees have been arrested on felony charges over their alleged failures to report the incident, which reportedly occurred off school grounds in the spring of 2021. Each faces up to five years in prison if convicted.