Teacher suspected of molesting, sexually harassing 2nd graders
Police arrest substitute teacher at northern Tel Aviv school; the 49-year-old was recently convicted on similar charges
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Police on Tuesday arrested a substitute teacher at a school in northern Tel Aviv on suspicion that he sexually harassed and assaulted at least 10 second-grade students.
According to reports, the teacher made a number of sexually explicit comments toward the some of the girls and also is alleged to have inappropriately touched a number of them during a class.
The teacher denied molesting the girls, saying his contact with them was wholly appropriate.
“My client denies the crimes attributed to him and says the hug and kiss were friendly. Furthermore, the contact was not in secret but in the presence of others,” Ynet quoted the suspect’s lawyer as saying.
The incident came to light after one of the girls complained to her mother, who then told the principal, who informed the Education Ministry, which subsequently alerted the police.
It then emerged that the suspect was convicted last month of indecent sexual acts against a girl he tutored from when she was 12 until she was 15.
In January, despite his arrest, police gave him permission to keep teaching. This was not amended after he was convicted last month. He had been set to face sentencing in October, Ynet reported.
The suspect, a 49-year-old resident of Rishon Lezion near Tel Aviv, will be brought before the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for a hearing on the extension of his remand.
The Times of Israel Community.