POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A substitute teacher at a Polk County charter school was booked into jail early Thursday, Nov. 30, accused of using Snapchat to send explicit videos of himself to two teen students, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
Jerron Dunn, 33, of Lakeland, faces charges of sex offense on a student by an authority figure and transmission of material harmful to a minor, according to a news release.
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Dunn was working as a substitute English teacher at New Beginnings High School when two female students — ages 17 and 18 — told their guidance counselor that he had sent them both videos on Snapchat of himself masturbating.
In the 17-year-old’s case, she told detectives that Dunn had added himself onto her Snapchat account while she was using Dunn’s charger. After this, Dunn allegedly began to send her messages “asking her to come visit him at his house,” according to the news release. He sent her the explicit video after she refused these requests, the release states.
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The 18-year-old said that she had accepted Dunn’s friend request on the app, after which Dunn reportedly began sending her messages to tell her “she was pretty and he wanted to start a relationship with her,” deputies said. This victim also rebuffed Dunn’s requests, telling him that he was too old and that the “friend with benefits” relationship he was after would be “weird” given that he was her teacher. After more messaging like this, Dunn then sent the 18-year-old several videos of himself masturbating, the release states.
Dunn has reportedly confessed to texting with both victims via Snapchat, as well as to making the requests to the 18-year-old. Further charges are pending forensic analysis of Dunn’s cell phone, deputies said.
Anyone with information regarding similar acts by Dunn was urged to contact the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at 863-298-6200.
During a news conference Dec. 7 to discuss the arrest of another teacher in Polk County — Rameir Jones, 21, accused of hiding and grooming a missing 15-year-old girl who was on felony probation — Sheriff Grady Judd updated Dunn’s case to announce two more alleged victims had come forward. Judd described a 20-year-old who was Dunn’s student and said they had sex with him, and an 18-year-old who said that Dunn showed inappropriate videos to them while inside a classroom. The new reports led to Dunn being rearrested, yet Judd added that Dunn bonded out after the initial arrest and has since bonded out after his latest.
“So he’s not in jail, but he doesn’t learn well. If there are other victims, tell us, we want to know. Two more victims have already come forward,” Judd said.
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