The headmaster of a private Christian school in Florida – known to students as “Pastor Tiger” – molested a 15-year-old male student and may have victimized others, authorities said Wednesday.
Charles Agoun II, the headmaster of Kingdom Preparatory School in Auburndale, was arrested on two counts of lewd molestation of a victim ages 12 to 16 years old after the male teen reported the alleged abuse to authorities, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters during a news conference.
In addition to being the school’s headmaster, Judd said Agoun also taught sixth- and seventh-grade classes at the K-12 school, as well as serving as its ordained minister and football coach.
“He checks all the boxes for people in areas of public trust,” Judd said. “And what do we find? He is grooming and molesting a child. He admitted that maybe some of my conduct was inappropriate. Maybe?”
Judd said he was “mortified” by the details of the allegations relayed by the teen, who told authorities that Agoun victimized him during several incidents in which the headmaster simulated sex and touched his penis, most recently in December. The boy told authorities another incident took place in November, Judd said.
The teen told Aguon during a phone call that he felt “uncomfortable” and didn’t like being kissed or touched by the headmaster, according to an affidavit.
“Agoun then asked [the teen], ‘Oh the loving on you?”
The teen then told Aguon he disliked being touched, kissed or bitten by the headmaster, prompting Agoun to tell him, according to the affidavit: “You know I was only messing with you.”
Aguon, of Davenport, was arrested at the school hours later and admitted to detectives that his behavior was inappropriate. Judd said he fears there could be additional victims, citing the school’s marketing slogan of wanting to become the “most loving school in the world” and Aguon’s unorthodox moniker.
“That’s convenient — Pastor Tiger,” Judd said. “If you have a name like that, maybe it makes it easier to groom children and that’s what happened to our 15-year-old victim who was a student at the school. He was being groomed by Pastor Tiger.”
Agoun lived at a residence with three other teachers at the school and questioned how the alleged conduct wasn’t uncovered earlier.
“[Agoun] certainly didn’t display the kind of conduct we expect of a teacher, of a coach, of a minister, of a headmaster of a private school,” Judd said. “Make no mistake about it: Pastor Tiger is caged up in the county jail right now, where he should be.”
A message seeking comment from Kingdom Preparatory reps was not immediately returned on Thursday.
Aguon, who had no known criminal history, was being held without bond Wednesday ahead of his first court appearance, Judd said.
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