MIAMI – A teacher at a Miami elementary school routinely called students who had questions about their assignments to his desk, where he would inappropriately touch them, an arrest affidavit states.
Alejandro Perez, 60, was arrested Friday on six counts each of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child younger than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious conduct on a child younger than 12 years old.
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Police said the fifth-grade teacher at Charles R. Hadley Elementary School was arrested after six students came forward to report Perez had touched them on their buttocks and vaginas, under and over their clothing, between November and March.
According to the arrest affidavit, police were provided with three cellphone videos that showed Perez inappropriately touching students.
Each of the three girls in the videos said Perez would touch them after he called them up to his desk whenever they had questions about their assignments. The girls said they were afraid to come forward out of fear they would be disciplined by Perez if they did.
Police said one of the six students who came forward said she didn't want to pursue criminal charges.
Daisy Gonzalez-Diego, a spokeswoman for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, said Friday the district was in the process of firing Perez.
"As soon as the allegations came to light, the employee was removed from the school setting," Gonzalez-Diego said.
She said Perez had been employed with the district for 34 years without any prior incidents.