DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A middle school security guard has been arrested after police said he acted inappropriately with a teenager.
Officials said a 13-year-old girl told her parents that 50-year-old Alejandro Escobar kissed her several times and indecently touched her.
“The great thing about this case is that the child had a good relationship with her mother,” Broward Sheriff’s Office detective Sira Arroyo said, “and was able to come to her mother, and have an open relationship with her, and told her that there was inappropriate contact with the security guard.”
Escobar worked as a security guard at Deerfield Beach Middle School. He also served as a volleyball and soccer coach.
Police said the victim told investigators that she became close to Escobar after she told him about her suicidal and sexual thoughts. He gave her a notebook and advised she write down her issues so they can discuss it in a private session.
Escobar made one of his moves at a session on Oct. 26, police said.
An arrest report said Escobar “kissed her several times while grabbing her buttocks and placing his hand under her shirt.”
Members of the community were stunned to hear about the allegations.
“I think it’s really wrong for any adult not to treat children properly,” a concerned resident said. “Children should be safe and adults should be adults, and they should know better.”
Parent Debbie Doyle said Escobar once tried to sign her daughter up for the volleyball team at the school.
“This same gentleman was trying to recruit her to the volleyball team,” Doyle said. “She’s very tall, and I was going to give her permission to do so.”
Her daughter, speaking to 7News, found something strange about the security guard.
“I did think it was weird that he was not an administrator to students. He was kind of friends with them,” Savannah Doyle said.
According to the school officials, Escobar had been with the system since 2003.
At a hearing on Wednesday, a judge ordered him to stay away from minors and maintain a distance of at least 1,000 feet from Deerfield Beach Middle School. His bond was set at $75,000.
If you believe your child is also a victim of this man, you are urged to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
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