Data: Ex-St. Lucie teacher Dan Hussan among Florida's student abusers with most survivors
Former Fort Pierce Westwood High School teacher Dan Hussan is among Florida's most prolific abusers of students in recent history, according to data from the anti-abuse nonprofit Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct and Exploitation, or S.E.S.A.M.E.
In 2016, Hussan, who now is 76, was sentenced to life in prison for molesting eight freshman girls. He was arrested in March 2014 when the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office said six teen girls made allegations against him. Two other girls came forward with similar allegations. Hussan is in Marion Correctional Institution in Ocala.
Hussan’s is the fourth-highest survivor count since S.E.S.A.M.E. in 2014 began tracking cases of sexual misconduct by Florida educators, according to an analysis of the data by the Naples Daily News / The News-Press.
From 2016: Former Fort Pierce teacher sentenced to life for lewd activity with students
From July 2016: Fort Pierce Westwood teacher found guilty of touching former students
The highest was Matthew Graziotti, a former summer camp director, youth pastor and teacher at Warner Christian Academy in South Daytona. He was sentenced in 2015 to 210 years in prison for abusing 29 children under the age of 12.
The others are:
Second highest: Hector Manley, Parkside Elementary School, Collier County. Manley was sentenced in January to 25 years in prison after pleading no contest to 20 charges that he molested students between the ages of 5 and 12. Criminal court documents previously had listed 21 charges against Manley.
Third highest: Asher Syed Yaseen, multiple schools, Osceola County. Yaseen was sentenced in July 2021 to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted molestation against elementary schoolers.
Fifth highest: Timothy Cooke, Lake Weir High School, Marion County. Cooke was convicted in 2017 of groping four students over the age of 16. He had three additional allegations against him dating back to 2005.
Of the top five Florida cases by survivor count, three involved abuse of elementary-age children.
The analysis found that most of the 273 cases of abuse listed a single survivor; 7.7% listed three or more. The number of alleged survivors is likely an undercount because S.E.S.A.M.E. tracks cases through news reports. Cases where additional abuse allegations are uncovered after an initial arrest may not be reflected in the totals.
The full dataset included 334 cases of educator abuse. This news organization’s analysis excluded child pornography cases that did not involve any children personally known to the defendant, as well as cases of voyeurism that did not involve individual contact with students. In one such case, a high school teacher in Hillsborough County was sentenced to 15 years in prison for recording 124 students by hiding cameras and cell phones in school changing rooms.
TCPalm/Treasure Coast Newspapers reporter Will Greenlee contributed to this report.
Criminal justice investigative reporter Dan Glaun can be reached at daniel.glaun@naplesnews.com or on Twitter @dglaun.
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This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Dan Hussan educator sex abuse fourth highest survivor count in Florida
