School security guard had inappropriate relationship with student, deputies say
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. November 1 2018 – A security guard at Deerfield Beach Middle School was arrested Tuesday after deputies said he had carried on an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl since the beginning of the school year.
Alejandro Escobar, 50, of Boca Raton, faces charges of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor and failing to report child abuse or neglect.
Keyla Concepcion, a spokeswoman for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, said Escobar, who also coaches soccer and volleyball at the middle school, befriended the girl who confided in him that she was having problems.
Escobar gave her a notebook to write down her thoughts, according to the arrest report. The girl shared the contents of the journal with Escobar, and the two would meet during the school day, often in the bathroom, the report said.
Some of the girl’s writings had to do with suicidal thoughts and sexual desires, but Escobar did not report this to school administrators, the report said. As a school employee, Escobar is a mandated reporter and is required to alert the abuse hotline or school personnel.
On Friday, Esobar kissed the girl several times and touched her inappropriately while the two were in his office, the report said. The girl told her mother who alerted deputies.
In a recorded phone call before his arrest, Escobar told the girl that he didn’t remember touching her because he was on medication, the report said. During the call, Escobar repeatedly told the girl not to hurt herself, but again did not report the suicidal behavior to authorities.
After he was arrested, Escobar initially denied the allegations, but later told deputies that the girl kissed him and he merely touched her lower back, the report said.
Escobar is currently being held on $40,000 bond at the North Jail Bureau in Pompano Beach. He appeared in bond court Wednesday where the judge ordered to him to wear a GPS monitor, have no contact with the victim and not return to the school if he posts bond.
Savannah Doyle is a student at the middle school and she’s the same age as the alleged victim. She said Escobar was oddly friendly.
“It just kind of seemed odd to me that he was like very close with all the students but at the same time surprising. I wouldn’t have expected him to have done that,” Savannah Doyle said.
Anyone with additional information about Escobar is asked to contact Detective Sira Arroyo at 954-321-4240 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
