A former employee of Fort Worth Country Day, a private school in Fort Worth, is under investigation after being accused of online solicitation of a minor.
Fort Worth Country Day informed students’ families that the school had contacted the authorities after receiving an anonymous tip about the alleged criminal behavior via email.
“A Fort Worth Police Department investigation has been opened [into] online solicitation of a minor and possession of child pornography,” Fort Worth Country Day head of school Eric Lombardi wrote in a letter, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“Our staff is fully cooperating with the investigators as they work toward possible charges,” Lombardi said.
The private school claimed that the employee in question had no criminal history prior to being hired.
“Fort Worth Country Day prioritizes the safety and well-being of its students. FWCD follows standard protocols in the hiring of all its employees. By those protocols, the School’s Human Resources Department completes both FBI background checks (with fingerprints) and reference checks prior to any hire. This former employee went through that full process, and cleared those checks, before he was hired,” a spokesperson for the private school told The Dallas Express.
“This is an ongoing investigation, and FWCD is cooperating with law enforcement authorities,” the spokesperson added.
Teachers being arrested for inappropriate behavior with minors have been seen across the state.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, a teacher at a private school in Collin County, Dominique Lee Beachum, was arrested last year for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a minor online. The Flower Mound resident was 22 years old at the time and had graduated from the University of North Texas just a few months earlier.
That same year, a 38-year-old high school teacher from Bryan Adams High School Leadership Academy in Dallas ISD, Qasim Ali Frazier, was arrested for allegedly having an improper relationship with a student.
“The complainant said the suspect told her he wanted her to be in his bed and to have sex with her. The complainant said the suspect wanted to have kids with her. The complainant also stated the suspect contacted her over the phone, and while talking over the phone, the suspect was masturbating while talking to her over the phone,” an affidavit stated.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the struggling district has seen a number of incidents in which employees have engaged in inappropriate or criminal behavior with minors.