Former Venice High School teacher arrested for 'romantic relationship' with student: SCSO

A former 23-year-old Venice High School teacher was arrested on Tuesday for having an inappropriate romantic relationship with his biology student.

Jakob Riddick, a former science and biochemistry club teacher at the high school, taught the student during the 2022-2023 school year. The victim told detectives that she began communicating with Riddick through Spotify, a music streaming account, and she would secretly meet Riddick at a park 15 minutes away from her house, where they would talk, listen to music and be sexually active. Riddick has been a teacher at the high school since April 2023 and resigned on Tuesday.

A person submitted an anonymous complaint to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office's Special Victims Unit with screenshots from Discord, a social media chat platform, that showed messages from the victim describing her relationship with Riddick.

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Detectives said that the victim told the Discord group chat that she was in a relationship with Riddick and referred to him as “my man.” She added that she and Riddick hadn’t engaged in sexual intercourse, but that he wanted to, investigators allege in the arrest report.

During the group chat, Riddick responded to the victim to make plans during the June 14 weekend under the username “ja416211” and wrote, “It’ll be fun, a little adventure trip you know? Some new scenery and a good memory.” Detectives later learned that Riddick and the victim were planning to meet over the weekend at Myakka State Park.

A subpoena was issued to Discord Inc. on June 11 for Riddick’s Discord username, and deputies confirmed the account belonged to Riddick.

The victim came to the sheriff’s office for an interview on June 19, where she disclosed that she and Riddick had been in a romantic relationship for just under a month. She added that she had had a crush on him for several months prior.

“The victim stated that she knew it wasn’t right, but she loves/loved him,” deputies wrote in the arrest report.

Riddick faces three second-degree felony charges for soliciting sexual conduct with a student as an authority figure. He has a criminal arraignment hearing on August 9.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Former Venice teacher arrested, engaged in sexual acts with student: SCSO