TAMPA -- A middle school teacher accused of molesting a student has bonded out of jail, and has been suspended with pay.
Tammy Clinton, 39, was arrested Thursday. She was charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation, and two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct.
The sixth-grade geography teacher at Farnell Middle School has been accused of forcing a 14-year-old boy to touch her breasts while she fondled him on school grounds.
News of her arrest spread quickly among students.
“As soon as I went home, it was all over Facebook,” said eighth-grader Kathleen Newell. “I got several phone calls about it. Everyone knew about it already.”
Parent Luisa Newell said the school acted quickly.
“The principal called us right away to notify us, to let us know the teacher had been arrested and no other students were involved,” she said.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said on two other occasions, Clinton also tried enticing the boy to meet her off school grounds to commit other sexual acts. He instead reported it to an adult.
Detectives said Clinton admitted to it all.
Parents said it was hard to believe the latest case happened at their school.
“Something like this can happen anywhere,” Luisa Newell said. “It’s happened so many times. We just don’t think in our school, the place you trust your child to attend, that it can happen.”
Clinton had been at the school for nearly eight years.
Information from News 13’s Bright House Networks affiliate, Bay News 9, was used in this report.
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