A Meade High School teacher was arrested Monday and charged with multiple sex offenses involving a student, Anne Arundel Police said.
On Jan. 26, the department was notified of accusations of a sex offense by a Spanish teacher identified as 43-year-old Manuel Navarro-Montero, according to charging documents. That same day, a police detective and a social worker from the Maryland Department of Social Services went to Meade High School where the student reported Navarro-Montero “touched her in an inappropriate manner,” police said.
In an interview on Jan. 31, the student told investigators that on Jan. 19, Navarro-Montero touched the student’s “private and intimate areas” over and under her clothing while in the school building, police said.
Navarro-Montero has been charged with a felony third-degree sex offense, and two fourth-degree sex offenses, both of which are misdemeanors. He also faces a second-degree assault charge, according to police documents.
The school system removed Navarro-Montero from the school upon being notified of the allegations, police said.
“We have been working with police since that time and have also been supporting the student in this case,” Ryan Durr, principal of Meade High School, wrote in a letter sent home to families Monday afternoon.
Navarro-Montero, a Bowie resident, has been employed by AACPS since August 2018 and has spent the entirety of that time as a Spanish teacher at Meade High School.
“Our school system removed this teacher from his assignment on the day we became aware of the allegation and placed him in a position in which he has had no contact with students,” said Bob Mosier, the spokesperson for the school system. “The placing of these charges means that we will now begin the process of suspending him without pay as we await the completion of the criminal proceedings. Those who would prey on children have no place in any school anywhere.”
An attorney represented Navarro-Montero at a hearing on Monday but their name did not appear in online court records.
Navarro-Montero was released on recognizance. A hearing has not yet been scheduled in the case.
