Push Admin

Filipino teacher faces sexual battery raps vs. minor in Florida

Article (news)

Paul Garilao | TFC News Florida

<div> </div> A Filipino elementary school teacher is accused of sexual battery by a teenage boy in Osceola County, Florida.In a press conference, Osceola Sheriff Marcos Lopez says 36 year-old Joel Velasco Tapil was arrested on April 14 in his residence after the father of the minor reported him to the policeTapil is a first-grade elementary teacher at Deerwood Elementary School.Sheriff Lopez said: “The father told us that his son had been in the suspect’s home, and while he was there, the suspect sexually battered him. The father confronted the suspect that begged him not to call the police. Of course, he did.”Lopez adds the 15-year-old victim met Tapil on the dating app Grindr. The boy was allegedly sexually battered after he went to Tapil’s residence.&quot;Mr. Tapil then began kissing him. The victim then told him to stop multiple [times] till Tapil held him down in the bed and continued battering him. The victim told Tapil to get away from him, and he left the residence. Mr. Tapil was arrested on a warrant of sexual battery.” Sheriff Lopez saidTapil has been transferred to the Osceola County Jail and is being held without bond. Tapil has no prior criminal record but officials are urging any other victims to come forward.“We definitely need to make sure that if there is any other victim, we want to keep them safe.” Sheriff Lopez saidIn light of this incident, authorities reminded parents to always monitor social media accounts and interactions of their children.The Sheriff added: “There are a lot of dating apps out there. There are a lot of videos out there where kids partake with people whom they really don’t know. It is your responsibility as a parent to start monitoring the media platforms. Take your children’s phone. They are under 18. It is your phone; it is your laptop. Make sure they are not doing anything you will regret in the future.” Tapil, a native of Gandara, Samar, was awarded outstanding elementary school teacher in the Samar division in 2020.He is in the United States under the J-1 visa program through the International Alliance Group and started working in the school district in September of last year.Due to the shortage of teachers in Florida, the school district hired more than a hundred teachers from the Philippines.The district superintendent is already in the process of removing the first-grade teacher from his position.Tapil could face up to thirty-five years in prison.ABS-CBN News has tried to reach Tapil&#x27;s school and recruitment agency for comment. They have yet to respond.

A Filipino elementary school teacher is accused of sexual battery by a teenage boy in Osceola County, Florida.