Florida Teacher Arrested, Charged With Molesting A Disabled Teen Student In Classroom

A 68-year-old teacher, George Summers Jr., in Tampa, Florida was arrested Wednesday and charged with lewd and lascivious molestation after being accused of inappropriately touching a disabled teen student, according to the Tampa Bay.

A Tampa police report indicated that on December 1 of this year, administrators at LaVoy Exceptional Center, which is located at 4410 W Main St., learned that Summers – who teaches reading, language arts, and social studies to students with special needs – allegedly touched a male student with special needs in the private area.

Two witnesses stated that while in class, the teacher approached the student, who is unable to effectively communicate, from behind and grabbed him by the waist and began grinding on the student’s buttock.

Hillsborough police officials were immediately notified of the incident and Summers was removed from the classroom before authorities arrived.

Steve Hegarty, who is with the Tampa Police Department, stated that: “Someone who works at the school saw something that didn’t look right and reported to the authorities there at the school.”

After a weeks-long investigation and conducting interviews, the teacher was arrested at his home on Wednesday and transported to the Hillsborough County jail, where he is being held in lieu of a $7,500 bond.

Reporters with ABC Action News visited Summers home and were able to speak with an unidentified man, who is believed to the teacher’s life-long partner, who stated that he was shocked after learning the teacher was accused of molesting a student.

He added that Summers, who had been Hillsborough County Schools since 2005 but began working as a teacher since 2009, enjoyed working with his students.

However, before Summers became a special needs teacher, he worked as a substitute teacher at Horace Mann Middle School in Brandon.

According to LaVoy Exceptional Center site, it is “a part of the county school system and provides educational programs and support for students’ ages three to 22 with various disabilities, according to the center’s website.”

The school district stated that “only 91 students are enrolled at the Title 1 school, and about 80 percent are considered economically disadvantaged.”

The incident comes weeks after a 33-year-old special needs teacher, Carol Pauls, at Nocatee Elementary School in Port Charlotte, Florida was arrested for allegedly shoving paper towels in her students’ throat because he was having behavior issues in the classroom and became frustrated.

Although the special needs teacher denied the allegations, she was charged with aggravated child abuse and was suspended from teaching at the school.

Social media users were outraged, saying “she would not have talked or treated my kids like that or I would have been in jail with her. This is a shame we can’t even let our kids go to school and feel safe about it,” said Mechell Rangel on Facebook.

Locals have grown weary of these incidents, saying “What kind of background check are they doing on these people. He’s evil. Lock him up. How many more stories about the vulnerable and defenseless children do we have to hear?

Parents who have children with disabilities were appalled after learning the teacher arrested for molesting a disabled student.

In a Facebook post, Priscilla Appling wrote: “This is disgusting! My daughter has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and had a stroke in her uterus. She can’t talk or use the left side of her body.”

Appling went on to say, “How gross of him and shame on the school board for the lack of background checking.”

Melissa K. Rollenhagen added, “I’m so tired of hearing about how these monsters are mistreating our children. Eliminate all pedophiles by whatever means that is cost effective.”

As of yet, Summers have not been terminated from his teaching position, but it has been reported that the school board members will be voting on whether or not he will be able to keep his job.

[Featured Image By Baona/iStock]