Police search for teacher suspected of sexual abuse

By Erika Pesantes
Sun Sentinel
October 29, 2014

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/cooper-city/fl-sex-allegations-school-pines-20141024-story.html

Police are searching for a teacher suspected of sexually abusing students who attended a private Cooper City school.

The investigation centers on accusations against Tariq Ahmad, 35, in Pembroke Pines, said Sgt. Carlos Corretjer on Friday.

"There is an investigation, it's still an open case," Corretjer said. "We're still trying to locate him."

Ahmad was a former teacher at Nur-Ul-Islam Academy in Cooper City, school officials said.

Ahmad faces several sex-crime related charges, Corretjer said, but would not elaborate further. He said the case has been turned over to the Broward State Attorney's Office, which would not comment on the case Friday.

The alleged sex acts did not occur on school grounds, said Yasir Billoo, an attorney representing Nur-Ul-Islam Academy, a pre-kindergarten through grade 12 Islamic school of more than 335 students.

School officials suspended Ahmad when police started investigating earlier this year, Billoo said, and terminated him in early October after an arrest warrant was issued.

"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 school said in a statement Friday.

Police say the accusations stem from alleged incidents occurring approximately between 2006 and 2008.

A LinkedIn profile in Ahmad's name said he most recently served as the "head of high school" at the academy, where he started working in August 2006.

Ahmad could not be reached for comment despite calls to listed numbers. His attorney, Khurrum Wahid, declined comment on the case Friday.

Scott Mager, an attorney representing the alleged victims, who are now adults, filed a civil lawsuit in Broward County court on Friday alleging the school knew about the incidents, but did not report them to authorities.

The women were 14 and 15 when Ahmed forced them into sexual relationships, the lawsuit said.

After a parent caught one of the girls in a late night phone conversation with Ahmed, the parent confronted school officials about the inappropriate behavior, but got no response, the lawsuit said.

The school "maintained Tariq Ahmad in his capacity as a teacher and continued to cloak him with the authority and prestige as being the head of its high school, and continued to allow him unfettered and unmonitored access to vulnerable children," the lawsuit said.

Billoo, the attorney for the school, said he had not seen the lawsuit and the allegations would be "addressed in court."