Teacher asks forgiveness after making students send penis photos in exchange for good grades

A high school teacher in New Jersey is facing charges of endangering the welfare of a child and official misconduct after engaging in indecent communication with his students.

Jose Maria, a Spanish language teacher at the Passaic High School, allegedly asked two of his students to send him photos of their penises in exchange for a good grade. According to the testimony of a teen identified only as Ro.C, the 39-year-old sent him text messages between 2010 and 2012.

The probable cause affidavit states that the boy sent his teacher a photo he took off the internet instead. Maria also picked him and another friend and took them for Chinese food and alcohol, the teen said.

The mother of one of the victims, mentioned in court documents as R.NM, discovered the messages recently and reported the incident to the police.

"R.NM. stated that she confronted Mr Maria who told her the texts were true and asked for forgiveness," the documents state according to NewJersey.com. He told her he regretted his actions and said he would kill himself if she went to the police.

The teacher later told Ro.C that he had "made a mistake" and deleted the picture. He said he had acted on "impulse" when he asked the boy for a photo of his genitals. He admitted to the claims during an interview with the police.

Following his arrest on 24 January, Maria was released but is expected to report to the authorities on a weekly basis. He has been banned from making contact with the victim and is only allowed supervised contact with children under the age of 18.

The Passaic High School suspended him with pay, Keith Furlong, a spokesman for the Passaic School District mentioned.

North Carolina incident

In North Carolina, another Spanish teacher was accused of telling a female student he wanted to kiss her on her mouth. According to a report by the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, Fabian Jaimes sent the girl a note claiming he wanted to kiss her "with everything included".

"No more cheek, from now on straight to the mouth," he wrote.

In an interview with the police, Jaimes confessed to kissing the girl on her cheek but said he was "only joking as there was trust between them".

"Mr. Jaimes always is flirtatious. ...When I leave fourth period he ask(s) me to come hug him and I'm not a mean person, so I hug him," the girl said in her statement.

According to the Island Packet newspaper, the teacher was not charged with any crime since his actions did not break any state law. However, he was fired from his job.