MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A Miami-Dade public school teacher was arrested Monday on multiple charges and has since been fired from the school district.
Jail records show Mohammed Hamza Ahmed, 28, was arrested on charges of child abuse without great bodily harm, tampering with a victim and offenses against students by authority figures.
At the time the accusations were made, Ahmed worked at Country Club Middle School, located at 18305 NW 75th Place in northwest Miami-Dade.
According to the school’s website, Ahmed was a social studies teacher at the school.
An arrest report obtained Tuesday by Local 10 News states that Ahmed pursued a “romantic relationship” with a 13-year-old boy at the school, beginning in September 2022.
Miami-Dade Schools Police said Ahmed allowed the boy to skip classes and stay in his office alone with him, allowed him to change into his PE uniform in his office and even did the student’s math homework sometimes.
According to his arrest report, Ahmed kept a photo of the boy on his desk and threw him a birthday party at the school, showering him with various gifts, including a birthday card that read, “Thank you for being such an amazing little brother. Meeting you and becoming your big brother is the best thing that has ever happened to me! I hope this year is the best you will have so far! I look forward to celebrating a lifetime of birthdays with you. I love you so much! With lots of love, your big brother, Momo.”
Police said the teacher gave the student a matching beaded bracelet that they both wore and multiple witnesses at the school told officers that the teacher had a photo of the boy on his cellphone’s home screen.
According to the report, detectives began investigating Ahmed in January at which time he was reassigned to an alternative location away from the school and was ordered by the principal not to have any contact with students, specifically the victim in the investigation.
Police said Ahmed sent a text message to the boy, telling him that people were going to ask him questions and that he didn’t need to tell anyone about them.
During the investigation, police said they discovered that Ahmed had numerous inappropriate conversations with the student on various social media platforms and gaming platforms, describing to the boy how a person should be sexually satisfied and discussing what “smashing” means.
A search of the teacher’s iPhone also revealed a “plethora” of photos of nude adolescent males and adolescent males engaged in sexual acts, authorities said.
Police said Ahmed also took off his shirt in front of the boy while inside his school office and forced the boy to feel his abdominal muscles before lifting the boy’s shirt and requesting to see whether the boy also had abdominal muscles.
On another occasion, Ahmed chased the teen around his empty classroom and then hugged the student from behind as his penis area touched the student’s buttocks area, the arrest report stated.
Ahmed repeatedly told the student he loved him, authorities said.
“Mohammed Ahmed(’s) manipulative actions and behavior toward (the victim) was performed knowingly and willfully which caused mental abuse to the wellbeing of (the victim),” the arrest report stated.
A student at the school told Local 10 News reporter Trent Kelly on Tuesday that the teacher was overly friendly, and that it was clear to him and other students that he was pursuing a relationship with the victim.
“You know, he was, like, really friendly to this kid. He used to buy him stuff,” the student said.
The student said Ahmed’s actions were seen by other students and were the topic of many conversations.
“I was always cautious with him because, you know, my mom always warned me about him,” he said. “I remember at some point she warned me at night because there was an activity at school and she warned me, saying that I should watch out with this teacher because he seems suspicious.”
According to the arrest report, detectives also interviewed a former student at County Club Middle who said Ahmed displayed similar behavior toward him about four years ago, allowing him to skip classes in his office and even getting on his hands and knees and begging the student not to get back together with his ex-girlfriend.
Ahmed’s former students told Local 10 News that they were shocked and disturbed after hearing about incident.
“He was a good teacher, yeah, now, I don’t look at him the same,” said Isladys Amaro.
Detectives said Ahmed declined to speak with them Monday after he was taken into custody.
He was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and has since bonded out of jail.
The school district released the following statement to Local 10 Tuesday morning: “Miami-Dade County Public Schools is deeply troubled by the allegations of inappropriate conduct made against this individual. When administration was alerted of the claims, he was removed from the school setting. After a thorough investigation by the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department, this individual was subsequently arrested. The District has initiated employment termination proceedings, and will ensure the individual is precluded from seeking future employment with the District.”