A former teacher at a Miami charter school has been arrested for alleged sexual activity with a student several years ago.
Michael A. Tamayo, 39, was booked into a Miami-Dade jail Thursday on charges including sexual activity with a child, lewd and lascivious molestation of a child, and attempting to engage in sex acts with a child, records showed.
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WATCH HEREAccording to an arrest warrant, Tamayo is a former teacher at Mater Academy East Charter School, where he taught social studies for grades 9 through 12 between 2012 and 2017.
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Investigators learned in April that the alleged victim had been receiving therapy and revealed in a session that Tamayo, her high school teacher at the school, had groomed her when she was between the ages of 15 and 16.
The alleged victim said the grooming began while Tamayo was in charge of setting up a school trip to Italy, when he befriended the victim and started talking to her after school, the warrant said.
She said he was inappropriate with her on multiple occasions at school and attempted to rape her there, the warrant said.
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Tamayo allegedly sent her inappropriate text messages and started touching her inappropriately when they went on the school trip to Italy, the warrant said.
The acts continued when they returned to Miami, with him inappropriately touching her while they were alone in his classroom, the warrant said.
At one point, Tamayo was able to get her to meet him at a hotel, where he performed a sex act on her, the warrant said.
The alleged victim said she stopped talking to him once she got a boyfriend.
A records check showed Tamayo was a defendant in another lewd and lascivious incident with another alleged victim, the warrant said.
In court Friday, it was revealed that Tamayo was arrested in Virginia, where he lives now, and extradited to Miami-Dade.
Tamayo's defense attorney asked the judge to set a bond, noting Tamayo had no prior criminal history, but the judge ordered him held without bond.
