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Fourth-Grade Teacher In Florida Arrested For Soliciting Sex With Two-Year Old, Police Say

(Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Marlo Safi Culture Reporter
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Palm Beach County police arrested a public elementary school teacher Thursday on charges that he attempted to solicit a two-year-old child online for sex, the county sheriff’s office said, according to numerous sources.

Xavier Alexander, 28, is a fourth-grade teacher at Grove Park Elementary School in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Alexander is reportedly facing felony charges of soliciting sex with a minor and traveling to meet a minor for sex. 

Alexander also advertised on Care.com and other nanny websites as a babysitter, according to the Miami Herald. Alexander reportedly said on his Care.com page that he has been working with children for more than 10 years, as part of children’s ministries and clubs. He also said he could take care of up to three children between the ages of seven months and seven- years-old and over, according to the Miami Herald. 

Police did not say the reason Alexander allegedly solicited the two-year-old, but they reportedly believe there could be more victims.

The Palm Beach County School District said the accusations are not related to any incident involving students at the school, according to the Palm Beach Post. The district said parents and families were notified and are being offered support services, according to the AP.

 

The district reportedly said Alexander would not be returning to the school in any capacity until the investigation is complete.

“The District is shocked and appalled by the nature of the crimes for which Alexander was arrested,” a statement from the district said, according to the Palm Beach Post.

According to CBS 12 reporter Danielle Waugh, Care.com said they removed the profile and notified families Alexander was in contact with through the platform.

“This report is frightening and truly disturbing,” the statement reportedly said. “Every caregiver who uses our platform has completed a background check — Care-Check — and we imagine a background check was also conducted as part of this individual primarily employment as a schoolteacher.”

Alexander has no previous criminal history in Palm Beach County, court records showed, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Alexander made his first court appearance Friday morning, where a judge reportedly ordered he be held on $1 million bail. 

Earlier in the week, a teacher at a public middle school in Maryland was charged with ten counts of child pornography, and a high school custodian in Maine was accused of hiding in a ceiling to film girls changing ther clothes. (RELATED: Public Middle School Teacher Charged With Possessing Child Pornography)