Police say substitute English teacher took advantage of teen student for “her own twisted pleasure.”
Police say substitute English teacher took advantage of teen student for “her own twisted pleasure.”
A 20-year-old substitute English teacher in Florida has been arrested for repeatedly having sex with an underage student and sharing footage of one of their encounters on Snapchat.
The video was shown to students at the school, including members of the football team, according to a student who contacted authorities over the alleged abuse.
The sheriff’s office said the investigation of the substitute English teacher began on Dec. 3, after a Lakeland High School student “informed Lakeland Police Department School Resource officers about the existence of a video on Snapchat showing Davis and another student having sex.
“The student claimed the video was shown to a large group of LHS football players.”
Detectives from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit were brought in to arrest Ayanna Machelle Davis on Dec. 10 because she lived outside Lakeland city limits. She admitted having unprotected sex with the unnamed student on four occasions, twice at his place and twice at her home, according to the authorities.
The sheriff’s office said the relationship had been going on for months before its status was made public. It also said the student was 16 or younger.
“This is a clear violation of sexual battery laws. She was in a position of influence over the victim, and she took advantage of that for her own twisted pleasure,” said Sheriff Grady Judd.
The sheriff’s office charged her with two counts of sexual battery by custodian, which is a first-degree felony, and offenses against students by authority figures, which is a second-degree felony. She was charged with two additional counts of sexual battery by the Lakeland Police Department.
Davis appeared before a judge on Dec. 11. The sheriff’s office said that “$60,000 in bonds were ordered against her for all five charges, and an arraignment hearing of January 10, 2022, was scheduled.”
Davis was working at “Lakeland High as a substitute teacher with the staffing company Kelly Education Services,” the sheriff’s office said.
Davis was a temporary hire. She was not an employee of the Polk County Public School System. But Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Frederick Heid said: “We expect substitute teachers to uphold the same high standards of conduct and professionalism as our full-time educators.”
He added: “The charges against this person are disgraceful and a complete violation of the trust that teachers build with their students. There is no room in our schools for this type of conduct.”
Kelly Education Services deactivated Davis, pending her legal outcome.
Edited by Fern Siegel and Kristen Butler
