A teacher in the Bronx has been arrested and charged for allegedly sending explicit pictures to multiple female students and forcibly touching one of the girls.
Police said two 16-year-old girls and an 18-year-old girl claimed 26-year-old Bronx School for Law teacher, Alexander Guzman, sent pictures of his private parts to them via Snapchat, ABC 7 reported Saturday.
The images were reportedly sent between September 23 and October 31.
According to officials, Guzman also allegedly forcibly kissed and touched one of the 16-year-olds when they were in a classroom.
Meanwhile, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) said the teacher was removed from the school.
“These are deeply disturbing charges and DOE has cooperated with the police department fully and the teacher was immediately removed from the school. The safety of our students is our top priority, and we have stringent protections in place to address any allegations of impropriety,” the department stated.
Guzman was arrested on Friday evening.
He began working at the school in September and parents are now questioning the DOE’s vetting process for hiring employees.
“We need to know who they are hiring. At the end of the day schools need to be safe for our kids,” a parent told the outlet.
The suspect has been charged with two counts of disseminating indecent material to minors, sexual misconduct, forcible touching, and two counts of aggravated harassment and harassment, the ABC 7 article said.
Meanwhile, three social media networks that are popular with young people, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, tried to convince U.S. lawmakers in October they are safe while concern over Facebook’s possible harms reached over into additional platforms, AFP reported.
“Video-sharing app TikTok and photo network Snapchat, in their first testimony to US senators, argued they are built to protect against the mental health and safety risks present on social media,” the article said.