GAINESVILLE, Fla -- He's trusted to help Florida's youth grow and succeed but one area teacher was arrested for doing the opposite.
Herbert Pindar, 31, was taken into custody June 8th for three counts of sexual assault and soliciting a minor.
Police say he had sex with an underage student multiple times.
Police tell Action News one of the victim's friends caught wind of what was happening and reported it.
School may be out for summer but one administrator at Loften High School in Gainesville isn't enjoying the sunshine. According to police, Herbert Pindar is behind bars accused of sleeping with an underage student.
"She said that this was a relationship that had started by him paying her extra close attention," said Art Forgey with the Alachua County Sheriff's Office. "She was flattered by this because he was older but she said it quickly grew old."
Police say the victim - whose identity we aren't releasing - was a student in Pindar's math class. He gave the class his cell number in case they needed help with homework and she reached out.
Police tell us he then sent her a lewd picture. Eventually, the victim told police they had consensual sex in his car in a parking lot.
"I didn't think it would happen because he was so christian like and he was always talking about God," former student Payton Ashe told Action News.
Ashe had Pindar as a teacher a few summers ago. She says he was always going above and beyond to help his students.
"He was an excellent teacher. He gave us his number if we ever needed help or anything like that," Ashe said.
"We acted immediately on it," said Jackie Johnson, Public Information Officer with Alachua County Schools. "We contacted law enforcement, we removed the individual from the school placed him on administrative leave through the rest of the school year because we take charges like this very, very seriously."
Ashe says he should never be allowed back into a classroom.
"He needs to be removed from the classroom," she said. "I don't think he should be able to come back because if they let him go this could happen again."
Johnson tells Action News the school system will now review the case and make the decision whether to fire Pindar. That's expected to happen very soon.
Police say he did admit to sending some inappropriate texts, but he refused to admit any more.
The Alachua County Sheriff's office has been investigating this case since February.
According to Johnson, Pindar has worked at Loften High for six years. He became Dean this past school year.
