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LAKELAND, Fla. - A high school teacher and soccer coach was arrested this week after deputies discovered he had twice sexually battered a 17-year-old student at a Dollar General, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Richard Alcalde, 26, was arrested Tuesday and charged with sexual battery by custodian, sexual offense on a student by an authority figure and unlawful use of a two-way communication device, deputies said in a press release. Alcalde was employed as a teacher and boys' soccer coach at Star Athletes Academy in Lakeland since August 2023. He has since been fired.
The investigation started Tuesday after the student's mother discovered "flirtatious" texts between her daughter and Alcalde from the night before, according to deputies. The girl was a student at the school where Alcalde taught and coached soccer.
Photo: Polk County Sheriffs Office
She found the text messages after she went to pick up her daughter from a Dollar General in Haines City on Monday night. When she spoke to her daughter on the phone, she "sounded intoxicated," and when she checked her phone, she found the texts with Alcalde, deputies said.
Florida Crime Files: 2 youth baseball coaches, karate instructor facing child sexual abuse charges
An Orange County karate instructor was arrested for allegedly inappropriately touching a 15-year-old, a Seminole County baseball coach is accused of sending obscene images to a minor, an Orange County baseball coach is accused of child sexual abuse.
The girl told her mother that Alcalde gave her an alcoholic beverage at school, drove her to a gas station, got her another drink and then went to the Dollar General where he allegedly sexually battered her.
Alcalde admitted to deputies that he sexually battered the girl twice, but denied providing her with alcohol, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
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"Richard Alcalde should never step foot in a classroom ever again. Simply put—he preyed on this student and took advantage of her. He even tried to justify it by telling her that it was normal in his culture for a man his age to have a relationship with someone so young. Well that doesn’t fly, and now he’s going to experience jail culture," Sheriff Grady Judd said in a news release.
The 26-year-old was previously arrested last fall after for failing to appear in court after he was nabbed for driving with a suspended license, arrest records show.