NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — The Pasco Sheriff's Office arrested a substitute teacher for the lewd and lascivious molestation of two students, the agency announced Wednesday evening.
In social media posts, the agency identified the sub as Richard Berrios, who had worked at James M. Marlowe Elementary School in New Port Richey.
"Although we do not believe there are additional victims, we want to ensure citizens are aware in the event anyone has additional information or believes they may be a victim as well," the sheriff's office wrote on Twitter.
Though we have no indications that there are other victims, we join the Sheriff’s Office in urging parents to come forward if they believe their student may have been victimized by Mr. Berrios.
Pasco County Schools released a statement following the arrest.
"We are very disappointed," a spokesperson for the school system said. "As soon as the students came forward with the allegations, Mr. Berrios was inactivated as a sub and we reported it to law enforcement. We appreciate the Pasco Sheriff’s Office’s thorough investigation, which resulted in the arrest today, and we applaud the brave students for coming forward."
No further information was immediately provided, but 10 Tampa Bay's Angelina Salcedo spoke to the mother of one of the alleged victims about what happened to her child. Her identity has been withheld in order to protect the identity of her child.
She says Berrios was a substitute in the child's gym class back in December.
According to the affidavit from the sheriff's office her child was inappropriately touched on Dec. 13, 2021. The mother in this case though learned her child had been molested a day later on Dec. 14, 2021.
"She would try to nudge him off. And he was like, Okay, fine, then like he had an attitude with it. And then he would go over to whoever the other victims or witnesses were," she said.
The mother also said detectives with the Pasco County Sheriff's Department had her child demonstrate what happened when Berrios approached her on a teddy bear at school.
"She just felt very uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. And as parents. You can only imagine the thoughts going through anybody's head," she said.
The mother here does say staff at James Marlowe Elementary did communicate with her about what happened. They let her know Berrios was a substitute teacher, it was his first day on the job, and he wouldn't be subbing at the school anymore, but for her that wasn't enough.
"I was like, 'No, he just doesn't need to be working around children at all, especially if more than one person had came forth with similar stories.' It took a little bit of time, but he's finally now today been arrested. And I'm thankful for that. And I will be at the sentencing hearing. So look him in his face and tell him exactly how I feel about him," she said.
Her child is doing ok now, but she worries about their mental health in the future.
Again, both the district and sheriff's office say they do not believe any one else is affected here, but they're still urging parents to come forward if they think their student may have been touched inappropriately.
Anyone with any information that could help investigators is urged to contact the sheriff's office tip line at 1-800-706-2488 or by clicking here.
This is a developing story.