JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former Bible school teacher on Jacksonville's westside, 36-year-old Brian Reed, is accused of molesting a teenager and sending harmful material to minors.
According to the arrest report, Reed was arrested on Nov. 1, 2019.
He is facing charges of lewd or lascivious molestation, soliciting with a child via computer, and transmission of material harmful to minors.
The report states the initial incident occurred in October 2017 and continued to April 2018.
It states that Reed was a Bible school teacher at the time and had initiated several video chats with the alleged victim so she could watch him touch himself.
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The report states Reed instructed her to do the same.
It continues to state Reed then contacted the alleged victim on social media, by sending her more intimate pictures of himself.
According to the report, the victim told police that Reed groped her over her clothes and attempted to kiss her on school property.
A former student of Reed's told Action News Jax that Reed came across weird to him. "He was just kind of odd. I never had a bad interaction with him, but it was just kind of awkward."
According to Old Plank Christian Academy, the alleged victim and her family reported the incident to the school about a year after the initial incident occurred.
The principal and pastor told Action News Jax they have a zero tolerance for this behavior and took immediate action. They said Reed was fired right after the report was made to them.
The school also wanted to clarify, Reed was a teacher and then transitioned to a regular school employee before his termination. Find their full statement here.
After notifying the school, the principal and pastor said it was reported to the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Jacksonville's Sheriff's Office.
Police arrested Reed more than a year after the report was made.
A Jacksonville Sheriff's Office public informations officer told Action News Jax that the Sheriff's Office was not the investigating office in this case and therefore it is unable to give an exact reason why it took over a year for an arrest to be made. However, the Sheriff's Office said, "This takes months or years at times depending on the process, as well as the number of tests submitted prior to a given facility. Once this testing has been completed and a valid result is returned providing further evidence to secure an arrest, the detective would then seek a warrant for the suspect found to have committed the crime."
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