OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — An Oklahoma City metro teacher is being accused by parents of sexually inappropriate behavior with their children, allegedly including texts, stalking and a groping incident. Some of the parents have filed petitions for protective orders against the teacher, who will remain unnamed in this story since charges have not been filed.
The parents say the teacher works for Oklahoma City Public Schools.
KFOR reached out to OKCPS for comment and a district spokesperson sent us this statement:
“On October 18th, Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) received a report of inappropriate conduct by a teacher at Roosevelt Middle School, indicating they were in violation of district policy. These allegations are now being investigated by OKCPS. As is routine in these situations, the teacher has been placed on Administrative Leave pending the result of our investigation. Because this is a personnel issue, we cannot provide any further comment at this time.”
OKLAHOMA CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
On Tuesday, KFOR interviewed one of the women who filed a protective order against the teacher. Her name will not be revealed to protect her child.
The mother said that her 15-year-old son knows the teacher from two places. One, through his friends who live in the teacher’s neighborhood, and from a period when the man was a substitute teacher in the Deer Creek Public Schools system.
The first mother we spoke to claims her son was abused over this past summer over digital communication and in the teacher’s neighborhood. She says he sent her son and his friends lewd text messages and photos.
“I was absolutely enraged,” she said. “This was an adult that they trusted and they looked up to this person and they totally betrayed their trust, betrayed our trust as parents,” she said. “It was horrifying to think this could be done.”
She also alleged he was stalking her 15-year-old son and his underaged friends.
“He would drive by the neighborhood pool when they were there and take pictures of them and send it to them and make comments about them, make comments about their physique, subjects that should never be broached by an adult to children,” she said.
In this mother’s petition for a protective order, she claims on one occasion, the teacher groped her son’s genitals. She told KFOR this happened while her son was at the teacher’s home.
“He had reached down to plug his phone in and this person reached around him and grabbed him in his front and I think my son was just stunned that it happened,” she said.
The mother said she has contacted Oklahoma City Public Schools, where the man now works, to let her know of her concerns about the teacher and the legal actions she’s taken against him.
“I think he’s sick,” she said of the teacher. “I think he needs help. I think the law needs to catch up with him.”
A second mother we talked to alleges her 15-year-old son in the Deer Creek school system was also taught by the man when he was a substitute teacher there. She said this past summer the man would send her son sexually inappropriate messages on the app Snapchat.
She claims the man would also invite her son and his friends to his house and serve them alcohol.
“He was very intentional in the way he groomed our kids this summer, from the alcohol to the psychological,” she said. “He used the alcohol as a message to have something over their head because they were scared to come to parents because of the fact that they had drank or they had been provided alcohol by the individual.”
While all the alleged accusations happened outside of school, she said his status as a substitute teacher made her son further trust the man and that trust was shattered.
“I don’t feel this individual has any business being around kids, much less teaching them,” she said. “My son is scared of the guy. I do not want any other children to be subjected to this.”
KFOR spoke with the teacher’s lawyer, Tommy Adler of Atkins Markoff Adler Law Firm, about the alleged accusation. He sent us the following:
“On behalf of [my client], I can tell you that he has consistently and completely denied the false allegations of any manner of sexual assault being made against him. He has cooperated thoroughly and completely with law enforcement, he has passed a polygraph exam with flying colors, and no charges of any kind have been filed against him. We expect that to remain true.
[My client] is a happily married heterosexual husband and father with no history of any claims of sexual deviance or wrongdoing against him.
These false allegations supposedly happened in a room full of people, none of whom witnessed it, and then it went unreported for weeks. You have to seriously question the motivation of anyone who would want to try to push this kind of irresponsible claim in front of the media before any valid legal process has a chance to even take place.
We are proud to represent [my client] and are prepared to take any and all action necessary to defend these false claims.”
TOMMY ADLER, ATTORNEY
KFOR also reached out to Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater, who sent us the following:
“The investigation is ongoing and is incomplete at this time. When investigators complete their investigation, they are to deliver it to us. No filing decision can be made until then.”
DAVID PRATER, OKLAHOMA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Deer Creek schools sent KFOR this statement:
“[The teacher] worked as a Deer Creek substitute teacher for 51 days in 2019 and 2020 with his employment voluntarily ending in September of 2020. All required background checks and training were completed by [the substitute teacher] prior to working as a substitute teacher.
Deer Creek has not been made aware of anything that occurred in regards to [the substitute teacher] during school hours, on school property or during any school activity and understands that the alleged incidents occurred in the neighborhood.
Deer Creek takes these allegations seriously as the safety of our students and staff is our first priority and always investigates any allegations made against an employee.”
DEER CREEK SCHOOLS
