Teacher Arrested for ‘Grooming’ Young Student – “Would You Be My Teenage Bride?”

(The AEGIS Alliance) – A business-technology high school teacher who invited an underage student to take a trip to France, asked her to be his “Teenage Bride,” has been arrested.

On Thursday, January 31st, a teacher named John Teti, 41, working at Northeast High School in Oakland Park, Florida, saw charges of “being an authority figure soliciting or engaging in a romantic relationship,” WPLG, a Miami news station said.

An affidavit complaint made by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office stated that Teti attempted to “solicit a romantic, lewd and sexual relationship” with a 16 year old student during October and December, but then her father made a call to the police.

After the school found out that Teti had been engaging in “inappropriate communication” with his students using the Remind Me app, according to the affidavit, he was then ordered to maintain a  “professional and ethical distance” from the children. However, Teti kept the group chat going with private text messages.

A @NortheastHigh @browardschools teacher arrested by @browardsheriff for trying to solicit a romantic relationship with an underage student 41 year old John Teti behind bars @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/kuCuPaZN3p

— Todd Tongen (@TTongenWPLG) February 1, 2019

According to police, Teti was focused on one teenager, and was “grooming” her into a sexual relationship. He was vaping with her alone, offered her rides to school, and taking her out to eat at McDonald’s. He would suggest that she skip class to hang out with him, and offered his private tutoring services. Police says Teti was using “immature” language to appear young in text communications with the teenager.

Teti would write to the girl in late night text messages, “If my wife were to suddenly die, would you be my teenage bride?” … “We should spend all summer together” and said he called his wife by the girl’s name during sex. “…Is that weird?” he had typed.

The teen asked him to stop a couple times over the next few months, and told her friend that Teti was “creepy.”

During November, Teti text that he attempted to “stalk” the girl after classes. “I think you’re just avoiding me because you’re afraid that if you’re near me for too long, you won’t be able to control yourself and you’re just going to attempt to start making out with me,” he had written, according to the affidavit.

During December, Teti would send multiple text messages telling the teen that he missed her and was trying to control his urges to connect. “If I never get to tell you again, I f***ing love you,” he wrote. “Not romantically, of course.”

A few days after that, Teti summoned the teen girl to his classroom, where she brought her friend. With the two teens present in a supply closet, Teti gave the victim a tight hug. She told police it felt “awkward” and Teti had said, “I know you’re probably not going to like this, but I missed you so much!”

Teti tracked down the victim’s address and sent her a package of notes and snacks, which made the teen feel “overwhelmed” and “panicked”. The affidavit states that the teenager’s siblings sent Teti a message on Facebook, telling him to stop, and he replied that the girl was a “troubled child” and he was only being a friend.

In a phone call Teti had with the teen, he expressed worry about potential statutory rape charge and about how in France it’s legal to wed at age 15. “‘She [his wife] doesn’t have to know, we can fly to France,” Teti said according to the affidavit. During the conversation, he also talked about his sexual stamina and penis size.

According to the affidavit, on December 30th the siblings talked to their father about Teti, and their father accused Teti of pedophilia. Allegedly Teti said the teen was his “work buddy” that that the text were just a “joke.”

On that Thursday, January 31st, Teti said to police he had a “special bond and relationship” with the victim and admitted to sending all the text messages. The Miami news station WSVN reports that Teti’s bond is set at $50,000.

A spokeswoman from Broward County School Districts says that Teti was terminated that Thursday and was escorted off the school grounds by law enforcement. The spokeswoman confirmed that Teti had been hired as a substitute teacher back in March, and became a full-time business technology teacher in April.

Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.