VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A Deltona Middle School math teacher was arrested Wednesday amid an investigation into his conduct with a student, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said they began investigating 29-year-old Carlos Aguirre Rendon on Jan. 11, when it was reported that he kissed a 15-year-old victim on the lips in a classroom.
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“The girl’s parents told deputies they had concerns prior to that, as her mother said she’d seen Aguirre with his arm around her daughter at a Deltona park,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
A charging affidavit shows the victim’s parents were aware of “a close relations between their daughter and the teacher since the beginning of the school year” but didn’t think anything of it, as she had been attached to teachers in the past, until later on.
The victim said Rendon would often frequent Firefighters Memorial Park in Deltona with his children, despite living in Longwood, and had mentioned to her she could meet him there, according to the affidavit.
Surveillance video shows they met at the park, during which time Rendon would leave his two young children in the car seats of his vehicle while he talked with the victim. There, he would look through her phone and “ask if (she) was talking to boys.”
According to investigators, Rendon was also approaching potential witnesses Tuesday at the same Deltona park, asking about the girl and telling at least one witness not to speak with deputies.
Witnesses told deputies that Rendon would try to get the victim alone and “appeared to be pursuing a relationship with her outside of normal teacher-student contact,” adding that Rendon and the victim “had discussed having a relationship once (the victim) turned 18.”
“(Rendon) would regularly ask other students to leave the classroom so he could be alone with her. He would follow her around campus in between classes and even offered himself as a private English tutor when he noticed she was struggling with the subject,” the affidavit reads.
The victim denied any sexual contact between her and Rendon prior to the incident on Jan. 7, during which Rendon asked two other students to leave, “stood up, wrapped his arms around (the victim) while she was facing him, pulled her mask down and kissed her on the lips,” despite her attempting to pull away.
When school administration was made aware of the allegations against Rendon, the victim was transferred out of his class and Rendon was advised not to return to the school pending an ongoing investigation.
After the meeting, the affidavit shows Rendon punched a pole while yelling at the victim in front of other students, “Do you even care that you’re being taken out of my class? If you get taken out of my class, I am leaving this school. I will transfer to University High School to see you.”
Rendon faces lewd or lascivious conduct and witness tampering charges.
He was arrested and booked into the Volusia County jail on a $12,500 bond before being released later that night.