Three former students of Nur-Ul-Islam Academy, a private Islam academy in Cooper City, Florida, have come forward with accusations of alleged sexual abuse by the school's former head teacher Tariq Ahmad. Police have been searching for Ahmad since he learned of the accusations.
The three alleged victims claim the abused occurred between 2006 and 2008. A suit filed by the first two alleged victims states Ahmad developed a relationship with a 15-year-old girl in early 2007 and he was "forcing her into a sexual relationship, abusing her on multiple occasions, up to and including sexual intercourse," according to Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
Ahmad then started another relationship that fall with a student in his class. He would use code on the chalkboard to "arrange times to meet her outside of school and contact her through social media Internet sites," according to the suit. The third victim came forward on Oct. 28 with similar accusations.
"A grooming process occurred," the former students' attorney Scott Mager told CBS 4 in Miami. "A sexual abuse set of acts occurred, same sort of m.o., same sort of damaged inflicted upon the person.
The first two alleged victims only came forward after years of therapy, and the second victim had to undergo reconstructive plastic surgery "for damage done to her sexual organs by" her former teacher, according to Mager's partner Michael Dolce.
Nur-Ul-Islam Academy released a statement to Local 10, an ABC affiliate, after the lawsuit was filed last week.
"These allegation relate to alleged acts of the teacher six to eight years ago, which did not occur on the school's premise, concerning at least one former student of the Academy. Upon learning of these allegations, the Academy immediately suspended the teacher's employment, barred him from any further contact with Academy students, and has since terminated his employment with the Academy."
The alleged victims' attorneys said an arrest warrant has been issued for Ahmad and the former teacher either fled the area or went into hiding, according to CBS 4 in Miami. The attorneys also set up a website called teacherhunt.org for people to provide tips and information for Ahmad's capture.
Based on statistics, Dolce believes a sexual predator like the alleged Ahmad could "abuse an average of 109 children if the law doesn't stop them."
The Academy may have been made aware of a previous incident involving Ahmad shortly after his hiring; a family member of his implicated him in the sexual abuse of a child, according to the lawsuit. The school "kept that information it had to itself," the suit reads, "Not alerting any student, parent or legal authority of what it had been told."
Prior to joining the Academy staff, Ahmad worked for the Broward County Public School District in Florida from August 2001 to November 2005, according to the New Times. The district did not comment on any possible disciplinary problems and only revealed he left the district because of "relocation."
