Police investigating after several reports of teacher molesting children

Police are investigating reports of inappropriate conduct by a substitute teacher at Jessup Elementary School in southeast Houston, according to a spokesman for Pasadena Independent School District.

The school district is not going into specifics, but FOX 26 interviewed four parents separately, and each one claims the teacher molested about a dozen girls in his fourth grade class on Friday.

“I get a phone call to come pick my daughter up from after-school program," said Maurlen Sandoval, a parent of a Jessup Elementary School fourth grader. "They’re like, she’s not in trouble. She’s not in a fight. Something happened. An incident happened at school.”

When Sandoval arrived to pick up her 9-year-old daughter, she found her in tears.

“I see my daughter running to me, crying to me, telling me that the teacher had touched her in so many ways," said Sandoval. "And it was really horrible to tell me all the places that he touched her at.”

Sandoval says her daughter then went into more detail about her day at school.

“He lined them up," said Sandoval. "He lined the boys up and told them to turn around, face the wall, don’t look.”

Ashley Deaton’s 9-year-old daughter told her the same story.

"The teacher made all the kids stand against the wall and face the wall, and he would call the girls one by one and touch on them,” said Deaton.

The moms say the substitute teacher fondled their daughters' private parts under and over their clothing.

“She told me this morning that she didn’t want to come to school this week, and I’m not gonna send her to school for the reason that I need to find out more about this,” said Sandoval. 

The school district notified each parent in the class but did not send a memo to all parents in the school about the incident, according to a Pasadena ISD spokesman.

The school district is not releasing the teacher’s name. He has not been arrested, but he is being investigated, according to a Pasadena ISD spokesman.

Deaton says she’s withdrawing her daughter from the school.

“The principal did call me that night—Friday night about 6:30-7–saying that they’re gonna do therapy sessions with the kids," said Deaton. "And to me, I don’t feel like that’s appropriate.”

Both moms want more answers about the alleged child predator.

“I want to know: Why is he still out in the free world?" said Sandoval. "I want to know why he did this to my daughter and to other girls. I just want justice. That’s all I want.”

Pasadena ISD Police are leading the investigation.

For now the teacher won’t be returning to the school, a Pasadena ISD spokesman told FOX 26.