A Fresno County Sheriff’s captain is under an internal investigation following sexual comments and questions he made during a talk to an auditorium full of students at Immanuel Schools in Reedley, The Fresno Bee has learned.

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In a video shared with The Bee, Captain Joe Smith is seen and heard talking to students at the private Christian K-12 school. The date on the video is Feb. 7. The video appears to have been recorded by the school as it has its logo.

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The tenor of Smith’s talk during the first minutes of his speech is inspirational. Smith, 46, worked his way up the ranks and is the president of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Captain Association.

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But toward the end, he dropped some “awkward,” and probably unexpected, questions and comments to the young audience. Those comments have now prompted an internal investigation by the Sheriff’s Office.

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“I want you guys to raise your hands up high if in the last week you’ve not only looked at porn, but you masturbated,” he tells the auditorium full of students.

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There is no reaction from the audience. Smith breaks the silence by saying “awkward” before continuing.

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“Studies show 50% of high school and junior high kids, boys, specifically, have done this,” Smith says. “OK, girls, I’m going to put you on the spot. You ready? In the last week, ladies, how many of you have looked in the mirror and you’ve told yourself you’re not thin enough, you’re not pretty enough, your boobs aren’t big enough? You thought about being promiscuous to attract attention from the other sex, show hands girls.”

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Some in the audience giggle. “Yeah, we’re just going to kind of glaze over that, huh? Did I get your attention?” Smith says. “Alright. Ladies, studies show that 75% of you have done this in the last week, and yet, nobody in here raised their hand. Boys, you didn’t raise your hand, and yet, you know that I was talking to at least half of you in here.”

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The Bee reached out to Ryan Wood, superintendent at Immanuel Schools, and to Phil Goertzen, principal at Immanuel High School, for comment multiple times. As of late Monday afternoon, no one from the school responded. Immanuel Schools made headlines during the pandemic over its refusal to stop in-person classes during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Fresno Sheriff captain responds

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Smith didn’t return a phone call to his office by The Bee, but he did respond to an email. He confirmed having talked at Immanuel High School, and said this was his second time speaking there.

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Smith said he was happy for the opportunity to share his faith and his career with the students.

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“Knowing what teenage boys struggle with, I did ask the boys if they struggled with viewing porn and/or masturbating,” he told The Bee in an email. “I did ask the girls if they were struggling with self-esteem issues related to their bodies. I told all the students they could turn to their parents, teachers, mentors and most of all God for help with these struggles.”

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Smith said he and his wife have teenagers, and that’s why he felt those questions were appropriate.

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“In retrospect, I could have vetted these two questions with school staff first,” he told The Bee. “I sincerely apologize if I offended any student and/or their families.”

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He said he’s not ashamed of his faith and is not afraid to ask difficult questions.

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“It saddens me to see this has become newsworthy, especially in light of the positive feedback I received from students and teachers afterward,” he told The Bee.

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He said he had nothing further to add.

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It wasn’t immediately clear what the positive feedback had been. But The Bee learned the school sent a letter to all parents regarding the talk. It wasn’t clear Monday, what was discussed in the letter.

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Internal investigation

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Fresno County Sheriffs spokesman Tony Botti said the Sheriff’s Office in mid-February was made aware of some of the comments Smith made during an assembly on the campus of Immanuel Schools in Reedley. The office discovered, Botti said, that a staff member of Immanuel invited Smith to be a guest speaker.

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According to the video, Smith refers to a person who appears to be moderating the talk as “Jason.”

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A photo on Immanuel Schools’ website lists Jason Gossenberger as a bible teacher for the junior high and high school as well as the campus chaplain. He appears to match the person on the video. The Bee reached out to Gossenberger for comment.

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“Sheriff John Zanoni has since spoken with Immanuel’s superintendent to gain a better understanding of the situation and learn what concerns there might be related to Captain Smith’s message to students in the audience,” Botti said in a statement to The Bee. “The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office takes any and all matters of potential misconduct seriously when brought to our attention.”

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The Sheriff’s Office, Botti said, is now treating the incident as a “personnel matter and will be conducting further investigation into this incident.” Smith is not currently on administrative leave and it’s unknown when the internal investigation will conclude.

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Since it’s an internal matter, Botti said, the Sheriff’s Office will not disclose what action is taken, if any.

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More from video

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In the video, Smith continues after telling students what statistics show.

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“Pretty scary, right? So what can we do about it? What can we do about the fact that Satan wants to tell you that it’s OK,” he says. “It’s not like you’re actually having sex with another woman, you’re good. Ladies, it’s OK, you know, when you get old enough, you’ll spend some money, you can fix your face up, you can do things to your body, and it’s OK. That’s what Satan is telling you guys.”

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Smith tells students that Satan is telling them that whatever they’re doing, or whatever sin they’re committing, it’s OK. He continues by telling students that he doesn’t understand some of the struggles that teenagers are going through nowadays, for example, with cell phones, which he didn’t have in high school. But he tells them he understands sin.

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“God gives us the ability to have accountability in our life, either from guys like Jason, or some of your teachers,” he tells students, according to the video. “These people pour their heart and soul into you because we were all teenagers once. We all know how difficult it is growing up.”

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He tells them he had his own struggles growing up, but his life got “pretty amazing” later.

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“But it wasn’t always this way,” he tells students. “So for you guys that have had some of those struggles that I mentioned, and you sort of felt that burning inside when I mentioned it, and (said), like, ‘Hmm, I’m not raising my hand right now. That would be like target lock on me.’ I … can resonate with that.”

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He encourages students to find a mentor that they look up to and have those conversations with someone they trust.

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“Even if it’s your parent,” he tells students. “I know things can get pretty weird when you tell your parents something they didn’t know was going on.”

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Toward his closing, Smith tells students this was not his first time talking at the school. He tells them he had been there and spoke to a smaller group of students.

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“I know some of you are not here by choice, it’s because your parents didn’t want you in public school…and I get that, they didn’t want you in a public school,” he tells the students. “Some of you are just like … you’re just getting through it, probably chilling during worship, you know. Those words really don’t have any meaning to you but some day they might.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 6:51 p.m.