MIAMI – A 29-year-old teacher is facing child sex abuse charges involving elementary school-aged girls who were his students at schools in Miami, records show.
One of the girls was 10 years old when she recently received text messages from Eric Bernard Givens saying, “Always wanted to date you,” “I wanna see you again,” “Oh wow I wanna see you bad,” and one photo of himself wearing only boxers, according to the police arrest report.
Another girl described how Givens tested her boundaries when she was in third grade and he “started with pulling her hair back and grabbing her wrist to the point she would bruise” and “would pull her hair back in the classroom and after everyone left that is when [he] raped her,” according to a police report.
The two victims on record came into contact with Givens as students at the Theodore R. and Thelma A. Gibson Charter School in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood and at St. Mary’s Cathedral School in Miami’s Little River neighborhood, according to police.
Givens, also known as “Mr. G,” remained at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Monday. He appeared in county court on Sunday and Monday. Miami-Dade prosecutors filed two felony cases on Sunday that include 15 criminal charges against him, court records show.
The case of the St. Mary’s Cathedral School student has 14 charges — including seven counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child who is younger than 12 years old and seven counts of battery, a misdemeanor.
The case of the Theodore R. and Thelma A. Gibson Charter School includes a misdemeanor charge of offense against students by an authority figure.
Records show there were two warrants out with a magistrate hold when police officers arrested him at the Advenir Presidential House Apartments, at 1574 NE 191 St., in Miami-Dade’s Ojus neighborhood, west of the Saint Lawrence Elementary School, which is not related to the open cases.
Givens was employed at St. Mary Cathedral School from August 2019 to March 2020, and a student reported that sex crimes happened during the 2018-19 academic school year, according to police, prosecutors, and The Archdiocese of Miami.
The Archdiocese released a statement about the case on Monday saying school administrators “relieved” Givens from his teaching position “a few months later.” Mary Ross Agosta, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese, reported administrators followed the Archdiocese of Miami Safe Environment policy.
Agosta also reported, “The police were immediately notified and investigated the incident, and school officials offered counseling to the student and family members.”
Corrections officers booked Gives on Friday night and he remained at TGK on Monday afternoon. Detectives were asking anyone with information about the cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
Read the arrest forms
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editors Luis Castro and Frine Gomez contributed to this report.