Teen Arrested | News-Press

Teen arrested in connection with high school sex incident

By Ben Brasch - May 26, 2016
Click here to read the article on News-Press.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A 16-year-old football player at South Fort Myers High School was arrested Friday, accused of being involved in an incident in which a 15-year-old girl was recorded having sex with numerous boys in a school restroom.

The junior, whom USA TODAY is not identifying because he is not an adult, was charged with child cruelty, allowing a child to engage in a sex act and possession of obscene material, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office. He is being held in a juvenile intake facility, according to jail records, but it was not immediately clear whether the charges.

The teen's family could not be reached for comment. A woman who answered the phone at an address listed for him hung up twice and did not return a request for comment.

"While it is regrettable that this incident occurred in the first place, we are always committed to holding everyone responsible for their actions," Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott said in a press statement.

Students, parents struggle to fathom school sex incident

Since the May 17 incident, the video has circulated online and 16 students have been disciplined, five suspended and the others sent to the district's Alternative Learning Center. Students' final day of school before summer break is June 10.

Lee County School District officials would not confirm nor deny whether the teen was a student at South Fort Myers High, citing federal privacy laws. But district spokeswoman Jennifer DeShazo said they were aware that an arrest had been made.

“While it is regrettable that this incident occurred in the first place, we are always committed to holding everyone responsible for their actions.” - Mike Scott, Lee County (FLA.) Sheriff’s Office

"Today’s events are not a reflection of the football team in any way and should not be portrayed as such," she said in email to The News-Press.

The high school's athletic director, Don Payne, also would not comment. Earlier in the school year, the teen had played on a Catholic high school football team but participated in South Fort Myers' spring football game May 20.

The principal of South Fort Myers High, Melissa Layner, notified parents of the arrest and thanked the sheriff's office for its investigation.

Earlier this week, the girl's mother told founder Megan Estrem of Be the Light, an advocacy group for victims of sex slavery, that a human trafficker had held her child captive for two years, reported WBBH-TV, Fort Myers-Cape Coral-Naples, Fla. The girl was 13 when she was first sold for sex, Estrem said.

Victims who have experienced sexual abuse over a long period often start to consider the abuse as a normal part of everyday life, according to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.

She had been a student at South Fort Myers High School for two weeks when the incident occurred, Estrem said.

While the sex acts have not been characterized as rape, by law the girl is too young to give her consent to any sex acts. Florida's age of consent is 18 though state law contains a provision allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to consent to having sex with someone ages 16 to 23.

The Florida Department of Children and Families has confirmed that it also is involved in the case.

Christy's Cause, a nonprofit group that works to eradicate child-sex trafficking in southwest Florida, works with two safe houses in Lee County, Our Mother’s Home and Wings of Shelter.

“They are on the front lines, dealing with the aftermath,” said Christy Ivie, founder of Christy's Cause.

Florida has ranked third behind California and Texas in cases reported to National Human Trafficking Resource Center for all years since 2012, according to information on the center's website. More than 400 cases were reported in 2015, almost three-fourths involved sex trafficking and almost a third of the sex cases involved minors.

And girls aren't the only victims, Ivie said.

“I know that we have an issue with boys being trafficked,” she said. “We don’t have enough safe houses for boys. We don’t have enough beds for girl victims that are rescued.”

Victims don't always disappear, according to the Human Trafficking Resource Center at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.

“Students begin missing class or are exhausted in school," Ivie said. "Girls begin to dress different; their lifestyle changes; they travel a lot. Things just don’t add up.”

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Minors might have unexplained absences from school, make references or use sexual terms that are beyond the norm for their age, or engage in promiscuous behavior, according to the university's human trafficking resource center. Sometimes they do run away from home multiple times.

"I ask we move forward from this incident without further harsh judgment of those involved," said school Superintendent Greg Adkins in a letter to parents Tuesday. "They are adolescents who have made a serious mistake. They have been disciplined. They must now be afforded the opportunity to learn from their mistakes."

Contributing: Cory Mull and Anne Reed, The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press. Follow Ben Brasch on Twitter: @ben_brasch