CORAL SPRINGS, FLA. (WSVN) - A Broward County teacher was arrested and accused of having sexual contact with a 15-year-old former student.
Thirty-three-year-old Pamela Stigger, who works at Forest Glen Middle School in Coral Springs, was arrested, Thursday, and is facing three charges, including sexual assault by a person with custody over a minor and lewd and lascivious conduct on a minor.
According to investigators, a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy found Stigger moments after she had allegedly engaged in sexual acts with her former student, near Northwest 70th Avenue and 58th Street, in Tamarac.
“She was discovered in the backseat of her car that was parked in Tamarac,” said BSO spokesperson Gina Carter.
Deputies approached the vehicle and found both Stigger and the 15-year-old boy in the vehicle, at around 2:30 a.m. “Again, this was 2 o’ clock in the morning. She had a past student, a 15-year-old, in the backseat, half-dressed,” said Carter.
The mother of a Forest Glen student said she is concerned for her daughter in the wake of Stigger’s arrest. “It’s a little crazy, because I think it’s my daughter who needs to be safe at school with the teacher, and with this happening, I’m scared,” she said.
Parent Rose Miranda echoed the same concerns. “It’s scary because you send your child to school thinking they’re going to be safe, and then something like that happens,” she said. “That’s terrible.”
Carter said Stigger denied having sexual relations with the boy. “[Stigger] denied it completely,” she said, “and also stated that she was actually in the process of mentoring this young man while they were in the backseat of the car.”
On Friday morning, Stigger appeared in bond court and was granted $40,000 bond. “I do find probable cause,” said Broward Circuit Judge Mardi Levey Cohen.
She was told by the judge that she cannot have contact with the alleged victim or any minors, according to the judge. She also cannot return to her teaching job until after the legal process has played out.
Some of Stigger’s former students said her current pupils are shocked by the news. “A lot of the students, she was like a mother to them,” said one former student.
“First, I thought that it was possibly made up because I just didn’t believe it or whatever,” said former student Destiny Barth, “but then, when I saw the mug shot online, I was like, ‘OK, all right.'”
A spokesperson for Broward County Public Schools said the district has reassigned Stigger, and she will be nowhere near schoolchildren while the investigation plays out.
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