Jacksonville, FLORIDA

April 9, 2008 - William Tinsley, IV, 28, a teacher at Lighthouse Christian Academy, was arrested Wednesday morning and charged with sexual battery on a 17-year-old student. The arrest came as part of an ongoing investigation by the state attorney's office.

The girl says that Tinsley wanted her to watch R-rated movie called "Boogie Nights," which is about the pornography industry. Police said Tinsley's MySpace screen name is "Diggler," which is the name of porn stars in the movie.

According to the police report, she agreed to go to his house on Fort Caroline Road on Oct. 12. She said he asked her to smoke from a hookah pipe and drink alcohol, but she said she declined both. She said she kissed him while they were on the couch and he led her to his bedroom, where they took each other's clothes off.

She said he fondled her genitals, but she declined oral sex. She acknowledged to detectives that it was "weird" that the sex never progressed further. She told investigators she would have told her mother if they had actually had sex.

According to the police report, the victim's cell phone records and her description of the interior of his home were consistent with the details she gave investigators.
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Photo courtesy of Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Jacksonville is in Duval County.
Duval District teacher license discipline records from Florida Dept. of Education.
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PREVIOUS ACCUSATIONS April 11 - Duval administrators admitted that Tinsley had a similar problem at a public school three years ago. Tinsley worked with the Duval County School District in 2005, and Duval administrators have said they fired him over "similar accusations." He was a probationary employee.

Duval County School District reported him to the Florida Department of Education. However, DOE said there had been no probable cause to take action against Tinsley's license.

When he applied to the private school, Tinsley did not tell them that he was fired, and neither did Duval administrators.

DEFENSE MOTION September 25 - Tinsley's defense attorney has filed a motion to have the charges dropped, contending that even if Tinsley was found to have had sexual contact with the girl, since the incident allegedly happened at the teacher's home on a weekend, Tinsley had no custodial authority over the teenager.

"The statute does not cover it, and the Florida Supreme Court has said the teacher is not the custodian of the child when the child is off the campus and not involved in school activities," defense attorney Curtis Fallgatter said.

Prosecutors argue that the law does apply in this case since, as a teacher, Tinsley had authority over the child even if it was not at school.

TT - It's a bizarre motion since sexual contact with a teacher is usually presumed to take place off campus and not in the school cafeteria.