Judge: Ex-teacher accused of inappropriate conduct used school as 'hunting ground'

A judge denied a prosecutor's request to hold without bond a former Atlantic High School teacher accused of inappropriate behavior with a student, deciding instead to increase his bond to $250,000 while setting a number of conditions should he be released.

Arin Hankerd, 42, of Ormond Beach, is charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a person 12 or older but younger than 16; traveling to meet a minor; and using a computer for lewd and lascivious exhibition by a person 18 years or older to a victim less than 16 years old and offense against a student by authority figure.

Hankerd is accused of having inappropriate contact, including inappropriate touching, with a 15-year-old student at Atlantic High School, meeting her in a portable classroom and in a gym storage room.

A Port Orange Police detective testified Wednesday that the agency is investigating four more cases of sexual abuse involving females Hankerd met in his role as a high school teacher.

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Hankerd at times shook his head or showed some reaction during the hearing when the prosecutor questioned police on the stand and later when Circuit Judge Karen Foxman issued her ruling on Wednesday at the S. James Foxman Justice Center.

The judge said that school should be a safe place for children and the adults in the school should be people children can turn to for protection, not people who victimize them.

"At this point, what this court sees is somebody who took that environment that's supposed to be safe for children and turned it into somewhat of a hunting ground in order to sort of prey on minor children," Foxman said. "I can see that you are reacting to my statements, sir. Please be respectful and appropriate in this courtroom, OK?"

Hankerd nodded.

Hankerd's initial bond was set at $115,000, but then he was ordered held without bond after a request by prosecutors. Assistant State Attorney Ashley Terwilleger then filed a motion to keep Hankerd locked up until his case was resolved, saying he was a threat to the community and there were no conditions of release to reasonably protect people from him.

Terwilleger said during the hearing that Hankerd brazenly continued the relationship and did so in school where there were many people and video cameras watching. She noted that the Port Orange Police Department is investigating the possibility of additional victims.

Hankerd's defense attorney, Aaron Delgado, argued that defendants accused of similar crimes were routinely released under conditions that allowed them to be monitored.

In addition to issuing bond, the judge also set the following conditions should Hankerd be released:

• Report weekly to pre-trial services.

• Electronic monitoring.

• Adhere to a curfew of 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.

• No internet access.

• Stay away from places where children congregate.

The judge also ruled that Hankerd can only have supervised visits with his own minor children, a boy and a girl, ages 10 and 12, and cannot be alone in a room with them.

Arin Hankerd resigns from Atlantic High School

Port Orange Police arrested Hankerd Sunday at his home in Ormond Beach. Hankerd resigned after meeting with school officials while in jail.

Rumors about Hankerd and the student were going around school and eventually reached administrators. School officials spoke to both the student and Hankerd, according to testimony, and both denied rumors of anything inappropriate.

Since Port Orange Police placed a note about Hankerd's case on the department's Facebook page and in press releases, the agency has received 30 contacts from females about Hankerd, including from four victims of sexual abuse, Port Orange Police Det. Kelsie Nugent testified.

Under questioning by Terwilleger, Nugent said all the victims were introduced to Hankerd in his capacity as a teacher. She said those victims were from "other high schools" as well as Atlantic High School.

Terwilleger also showed a video to the judge which the prosecutor said showed the 15-year-old girl walking to a portable one morning and through the gym another time to meet Hankerd.

The judge said allegations of other victims were not substantiated to a point where she could consider them in her ruling.

"What I can consider is that the defendant took advantage again of a vulnerable child in a situation where he was in charge of being protection for that child," Foxman said. "And I can take into consideration the fact that he lied to administration in order to continue this behavior."

'I love you' started with free lunch

Hankerd met the 15-year-old girl at Atlantic High School in August during a physical education class.

Around December, Hankerd started having friendly conversations with the teen and sometimes buying her lunch, according to court documents. On one occasion, the girl thanked Hankerd, saying “Thank you, I love you,” investigators said.

Hankerd asked the teen if she said she loved him because he bought her food and the teen said “No, I love you.” Hankerd told the student that he also loved her and that’s when he started having an inappropriate relationship with the girl, according to his charging affidavit.

In January, the teen added Hankerd to her Instagram account and the conversations gradually turned sexual in nature, police said.

Instagram sexting, meeting in the gym storage room

The student told police that by the end of January she started coming to school early to meet with Hankerd at a portable classroom, where Hankerd touched the student inappropriately and had the student sit on his lap and touch him, police said.

The encounters continued at the gym's storage rooms where they kissed and Hankerd touched her under her clothes, the arrest report states.

Communication on Instagram became more sexual with Hankerd sending a video of himself in the shower, police said.

The teen told detectives she and Hankerd did not have sexual intercourse, according to the charging document.

Mainland High School students made previous complaints about Hankerd

In 2019, Daytona Beach Police were notified of an incident in which an 18-year-old Mainland High School student reported that Hankerd, who was her physical education teacher, touched her inappropriately, hugging her and asking her if she would date an older person.

Hankerd was Mainland High School’s gym coach in January 2020 when the Daytona Beach Police received a report alleging that he touched a 17-year-old student in an inappropriate and suggestive manner on the shoulder and thigh.

Nugent testified on Wednesday that the allegation in that case did not rise to a criminal level.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Arin Hankerd, ex-teacher accused of student relations, held on $250K bail