Catholic School Employee Accused of Having Sex with Student, WREG, June 28, 2011

Catholic School Employee Accused of Having Sex with Student

WREG
June 28, 2011

http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-catholic-teacher-sex,0,610668.story

(Memphis 6/27/11) A former teacher with Catholic Schools is accused of having sex with a student on school property in 2009.

31-year-old Jose Garcia was arrested this weekend, more than a year after a warrant was issued.

Memphis police say the alleged incidents happened in February of 2009, but they were not reported until during a forensic interview with the victim in spring of 2010.

Garcia is now charged with three counts of statutory rape by an authority figure. He is in jail on a $100,000 bond.

Police said the report was taken at Bishop Byrne High School in Whitehaven.

The 15-year-old student told police Garcia had contacted him through MySpace.

An affidavit continues to say they talked on the phone and sent each other text messages that eventually led to sexual activities between them.

The victim told police these encounters happened in the "Junior Hall" at school.

Police also report Garcia admitted to kissing the student and having the student touch him inappropriately.

The Catholic Diocese confirms Garcia was a technology teacher at Bishop Byrne, before accepting a non-teaching role as director of technology for the Jubilee Schools. He was still based at Bishop Byrne High School.

In that role, Garcia is pictured in a school newsletter as the recipient of a "Good Samaritan" award in the fall of 2009.

He was employed with Catholic Schools for nearly four years.

In a statement, the Catholic Diocese of Memphis said Garcia went through a thorough background check prior to employment and completed required child protection training.

In regard to the incident, Suzanne Aviles, the director of communications of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, said:

"On April 7, 2010 a student complained to another faculty member at Bishop Byrne High School that Mr. Garcia had acted in a manner inappropriate for a teacher and adult toward a child. Immediately, on the same day the faculty member contacted Department of Children Services (DCS) to make an official report. DCS then began an investigation. At the same time, the Catholic Diocese of Memphis began an investigation. Mr. Garcia was both suspended and barred immediately from school property."

Garcia then resigned a week later.

Neighbors at his Germantown apartment complex said he had probably been living there for about six months.

"Wow. I'm very shocked. I'm an educator, so that's very disturbing to me. And I have young daughters too, so that's just very disturbing," said Evangela Hill, who lives across the hall.

Hill is also a teacher. She said she wishes parents would watch their children's online activity more carefully.

"It happens everywhere, anywhere. Where there are people interested in children, it doesn't matter where they are. They could be at a mall. They could be at a Catholic school, city school, county school, it doesn't save anybody from anything," she said.