Police: Teacher arrested for improper relations with teen was investigated previously

An Atlantic High School gym teacher arrested Sunday for having an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old student was the subject of complaints at another high school, police reports obtained by The News-Journal show.

Arin Hankerd, 42, was reported to Daytona Beach police in January 2020 by a Department of Children and Families investigator alleging he touched a Mainland High School student inappropriately and in a suggestive manner.

Hankerd was Mainland High School's gym coach.

'A' grade in exchange for blanket and pillow

In that case, police said the student reported Hankerd touched her on the shoulder and thigh while they were sitting at the gym. He also asked the 17-year-old girl what she did when she was with her boyfriend, a report detailed.

On that day in January 2020, Hankerd also told the girl he would give her an "A" for the year if she would let him buy her a pillow and a blanket so she could sleep during his class, Daytona Beach police said.

The student was shaken up, and was crying when she called her dad to come pick her up, police said.

In a second report, previously, in 2019, Daytona Beach police were notified of an incident involving Hankerd.

This time, an 18-year-old student reported that Hankerd, who was her physical education teacher, touched her inappropriately. The student said Hankerd made her feel uncomfortable when he hugged her because he flirted with students in his class all the time and she heard stories he dated students, police said.

Hankerd also asked the Mainland High School senior if she would date a person older than her, police said.

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No response from school officials

It is unclear if any action was taken against Hankerd by school officials as both Daytona Beach police reports were labeled as "police information" only.

Volusia County school district spokesman Angel Gomez did not respond on Tuesday to a News-Journal request for comment, but the school system did respond to the arrest on its Facebook page.

"The District has been actively cooperating in this investigation with local law enforcement since the moment it was made aware of this situation. Those at fault are being held accountable. When we say that this behavior will not be tolerated, we mean that 100%."

Hankerd resigned after meeting with school officials while in jail.

Social media outrage on teacher's behavior

News of Hankerd's arrest also flooded the Port Orange Police Department's Facebook page with hundreds of comments including some from people alleging inappropriate behavior by Hankerd. Some commenters claimed they complained to school officials about his behavior but that no action was taken.

Hankerd’s past behavior was one reason prosecutors cited to ask that his bail be revoked.

In a court filing prosecutors said there have been reports of inappropriate contact between Hankerd and other students. It also mentioned Hankerd's employment at Father Lopez High School and Mainland High School. Since Hankerd's arrest, there have been numerous other individuals telling police of inappropriate contact with him, prosecutors said.

Hankerd was arrested on Sunday at his Ormond Beach home by Port Orange police after the mother of a 15-year-old girl discovered on Friday that her child was having inappropriate sexual contact with Hankerd, according to his arrest report.

Port Orange police charged Hankerd 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.

He was initially jailed with bail set at $115,000. Shortly after he was locked up, prosecutors asked a judge to revoke Hankerd’s bail arguing that Hankerd’s past and present pattern of behavior poses "a threat of harm to the community." A court granted prosecutors' request and revoked his bail. Hankerd is being held in the Volusia County Branch Jail.

'I love you' started with free lunch

According to Port Orange police detectives, Hankerd and the 15-year-old girl met at Atlantic High School in August during a physical education class. Four months later, around December, they started friendly conversations.

Hankerd would occasionally buy the teen lunch, and the girl thought Hankerd was being nice, according to the charging document. 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 that’s where the conversations gradually turned sexual in nature, police said.

Instagram sexting, gym storage room

The student told police that by the end of January she started coming to school early so she could meet with Hankerd at a portable classroom. That’s when Hankerd touched the student inappropriately, having 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 got 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, the charging document detailed.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Former Atlantic High teacher had history of inappropriate behavior