Hillsborough County teacher George Summers, age 68, has been criminally charged with molesting a teenage student. Prior to his arrest, Summers taught special needs students at LaVoy Exceptional Center, where the abuse is alleged to have occurred. LaVoy Exceptional Center school is located at 4410 W. Main St. in Tampa.
After conducting interviews, police detectives charged Summers with lewd and lascivious molestation of a disabled person by an authority figure over a student. Two witnesses told police they saw Summers approach the student from behind, grab the student’s waist and groin and begin “grinding” his crotch into the student’s bottom, according to arrest records. The incident allegedly occurred at LaVoy while Summers was supervising the student. Arrest records say the student is “unable to effectively communicate” because of his or her disability.
Later that day, school officials learned of the incident, called Tampa police and removed Summers from the classroom.
Summers has taught at LaVoy Exceptional Center since 2009, said a Hillsborough County School District spokeswoman. According to his Facebook page, George Summers teaches reading, language arts and social studies to students with autism spectrum disorder. Summers entered the Hillsborough County School District in 2005 as a teacher at Burns Middle School in Brandon, then worked as a substitute teacher and at Horace Mann Middle School in Brandon before starting at LaVoy. From 1988 to 2003, he worked in Washington, D.C., public schools, according to his Facebook page.
Adam Horowitz is experienced in filing lawsuits on behalf of victims of sexual abuse within schools. If you or someone you know has been a victim of a sexual abuse, please email attorney Adam Horowitz at [email protected] or call our law firm at (954) 641-2100