A Florida physical education teacher and football coach has been arrested for having sexual relations with a 15-year-old student, according to reports.
Arin Hankerd, a staffer at Atlantic High School in Port Orange, was arrested Sunday after police received a tip about the illicit relationship.
The teenager’s mother had apparently discovered her daughter’s journal where she had written about her relationship with Hankerd and then found he had been sending her inappropriate pictures via Instagram, according to an arrest report cited by ClickOrlando.com.
The mother had sought the diary after her daughter “had multiple conversations with her about Arin Hankerd and [she] became suspicious as to why she talked to him so much,” according to the police report.
Hankerd was arrested during a search of his home. He had been teaching the student since August 2022, and their relationship had started to become more personal after he started byuying the student lunch in December. Things became sexaul between them in January, according to the Daily Mail.
Officials said Hankerd has been with the school for two years, and was employed at two other local school, Mainland High School and Father Lopez Catholic High School prior to that.
After his arrest was made public, several social media posters claiming to be students at Hankerd’s current and former schools alleged rumors of his misconduct with pupils were longstanding.
Posting on Facebook, former student at Mainland Jennifer Lutz wrote: “I told the school when he was being inappropriate with me and they did NOTHING, until he got mad and decided to tell them I had a gun in my car (WHICH WASNT TRUE) and they finally moved me from his class.
“No punishments for him for being inappropriate though because who believes kids right. Glad it finally caught up to him!”
Another former pupil at the same school, Brooke Ashley Roos, agreed alleging: “I graduated high school in 2010 and this guy was a problem back then.”
Another commenter alleged she pulled her daughter from a school Hankerd worked at because she was uncomfortable with his behavior.
Hankerd remains behind bars on a bond of $115,000 and has already handed in his resignation from his teaching position.
Volusia County Schools issued a statement Sunday after Hankerd’s arrest and announced he had been suspended indefinitely.
“This evening, Volusia County Schools learned about a teacher from Atlantic High School being arrested for alleged inappropriate behavior with a student,’ the district stated. “This teacher has been suspended indefinitely pending the outcome of an investigation.”