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Elementary school worker fired, arrested after being accused of reaching up girl's skirt

He was jailed without bond.
Credit: Marion County Sheriff’s Office
Juvenal Gomez MUG

DUNNELLON, Fla. — A Florida elementary school worker was arrested Thursday after being fired in November following accusations he inappropriately touched a student.

Juvenal Gomez, 58, is charged with lewd and lascivious conduct on a girl at Romeo Elementary School in Dunnellon.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office says Gomez, who had been working as a para-professional, was accused of putting his hand up her skirt while sitting beside her at a table.

"He also provided the student a blue 'peso' (given to students for good behavior) that contained his personal phone number on it and the word 'kitten,'" the sheriff's office wrote in a news release.

Marion County Public Schools leaders fired him on Nov. 20 while detectives were still investigating the case.

Gomez was arrested this week and booked into the Marion County Jail. As of Friday, he was still being held without bond.

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