Posted on 12/19/2004 3:53:35 PM PST by wagglebee
A middle school teacher in South Florida has been arrested for allegedly molesting a male student every week for a year in a supply closet before sending him back to class with a note excusing his absence.
Aaron Mohanlal is charged with 37 counts of lewd and lascivious behavior involving a 15-year-old boy, who recently told his parents about the alleged abuse.
Mohanlal, 37, is a teacher at New Renaissance Middle School in Miramar, Fla., and may have been involved with more than one child, according to police.
"There was such a network of kids around this guy that went beyond the student-teacher relationship," Police Capt. Bruce Keesling told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Detectives are also probing claims the teacher gave other juveniles cell phones.
He was taken into custody Friday and was held on $370,000 bail. A Broward County Schools spokesman says if Mohanlal posts bail, he can return to work at the district, but without any contact with children until an internal investigation is completed.
Officials say the abuse started at the end of the alleged victim's seventh-grade year and lasted some 18 months.
The majority of the molestation is said to have occurred in the art room supply closet when the teacher was free for a work period.
Keesling told the paper several incidents took place at the teacher's house and in the teacher's car.
He said the teen, whose name was being withheld, informed his parents last week, as he sought to end the relationship with the teacher, though Mohanlal reportedly kept pursuing the boy.
The family has hired an attorney, Diana Santa Maria, who said the family is "extremely distraught" and angry about the events, but is trying to give the boy the support he needs to recover.
"They feel betrayed by the obvious negligence of the school board, in which they placed their trust," Santa Maria told the Sun-Sentinel. "The administration and teachers are responsible for the safety and security of children."
Mohanlal has been working for the Broward School District since August 2001, and has no prior criminal history.
"I think parents need to withhold judgment until all of the facts are known," district spokesman Joe Donzelli said. "I'd urge people to let the process work itself out to find out exactly what took place and not make the assumption that everything this child said happened."
Shoot Him Now Please.....
If he survives the loss of blood after having his private parts hacked off...
Let me guess. . . .it was "for the children."
I was just commenting the other day about the number of teacher/principal stories we have been bombarded with as of late. Molestation, drugs, abuse...
Well, so much for that bullet on his resume...
When the same thing happens ten years from now, the police will arrest the parents for "hate crimes" and deliver their son to the teacher's custody.
hey teach... no child's left (or right) behind.
What obvious negligence?? If the guy had a clean record and no one knew what was going on... good grief, creeps and perverts don't carry signs saying "I'm molesting my students" while the school boards says, "Gee, do you think we should stop him or let him keep doing it?"
I smell a lawsuit with an eye toward a comfortable settlement. This kid's parents are about to turn his molestation into a prostitution.
No child's behind left.
Odd how they don't get nearly the press as the priests. No one accuses te teacher's unions of "protecting" them.
Yet, they want to allow homosexuals in the Boy Scouts and are willing to destroy the organization if they don't get their way.
We need to go back to restricting homosexuals to working in interior decorating and hairstyling with adults only.
The priests get he press because the Catholic church is big bucks to the attorneys. Suinga teacher or the local school board is not abig enough payday.
Shoot him hell....hang him by his b**ls for the world to see and let the boys he molested decide his punishment
But again it points out that homosexuals do not have a good track record in professions that work with kids.
In an idiot's eye they are.
While I am a firm believer in innocent until proven guilty, this comment truly bothers me.
Trying to make the victim look bad is wrong, especially in a case like this.
He's a teacher in Broward Co.......he's a dim too, that's about right.
Exactly right! Now if the kid's lawyers can just show that the teacher once went to a Catholic church and spoke to a priest after Mass, they'll find a way to make it all the Church's fault.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.