Coral Springs Charter teacher faces charges for student sexual abuse, police say
Years after a Coral Springs Charter School teacher allegedly groomed and sexually exploited a then-sophomore, the abuse has come to light following his arrest on Thursday, police said.
Joseph Michael Melendez, 33, is facing charges of sexual battery by a custodian, lewd and lascivious molestation and two counts of lewd and lascivious battery, an arrest report read.
Police say the victim, now an adult, spoke to Coral Springs Police detectives on July 21 and revealed Melendez had sexually abused him when he was a 15-year-old sophomore at Coral Springs Charter School. The arrest report states that during the student’s freshman and sophomore years, in 2018, Melendez was his teacher and oversaw the after-school American Sign Language club. They had several conversations as the then-young boy confided in him about his sexuality.
Melendez used that trust to groom him, sharing more lewd and sexual details with the teen and becoming what he described as a “sexual mentor,” the report read.
Over the year, Melendez would later touch the boy over his clothes, sometimes at the charter school, which would escalate to several encounters of sexual abuse, the report states.
Detectives instructed and supervised the victim as he opened a conversation with Melendez in July to get him to talk about the past sexual abuse — which police say Melendez did recall to him.
He was arrested in the parking lot of the Northwest Regional Library in Coral Springs. Detectives said he later admitted to the “sexual relationship” when the victim was 15.
The Coral Springs Charter School, which is operated by Charter Schools USA and governed by the Coral Springs City Commission, immediately fired him.
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