Philip Velez.Photo: Broward Sheriff’s Office
A police knock at the apartment of a Florida high school teacher allegedly interrupted a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old student. Now the teacher is facing multiple charges of sexual battery.
“I don’t make light of it. He’s a teacher, but he is a young teacher,” Velez' defense attorney, Kenneth Hassett, said at a bond hearing Monday shown onWPLG.
Hassett defended his client at the hearing where the suspect’s bond was set at $85,000, arguing that in another 60 days, the alleged victim would be 18 and thus reach the age of consent, reportsThe Miami Herald.
According to the affidavit, the alleged victim told police that she began talking with Velez in November following a school event, and eventually she went to his apartment where the two engaged in sex for the first of four or five times.
The alleged victim’s sister observed her acting suspicious in recent weeks, according to the arrest report, and on Saturday the sister told their father that a cellphone locater indicated the alleged victim was at a Hollywood apartment complex.
The father alerted police, who then made contact with Velez at the address to ask about the girl’s whereabouts. The teen told officers that she and Velez were having sex when they arrived, the arrest report stated.
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“He’s in a position where he is supposed to be protecting children, teaching children, not engaging in sexual relations with them,” Broward County prosecutor Eric Linder said during the bond hearing, according to the outlet.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
source: people.com
