A former substitute teacher from Florida was arrested after he allegedly carried on an inappropriate relationship with a teenage student.
Chase Crabb, 23, was the subject of a criminal complaint filed in Polk County on Jan. 21, which prompted an investigation into his activities with a 16-year-old student. In a statement shared with WFLA, a local NBC affiliate, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said that Crabb met the unnamed girl in December 2023 when he was a substitute teacher at Haines City High School. They reportedly struck up conversations over email before progressing to social media and texts. Police said that once the girl, who was 15 years old at the time, told Crabb that she’d broken up with her boyfriend, their communications took a tawdry turn.
According to the information provided to the press by the sheriff’s office, Crabb and the girl communicated over TikTok, Discord, and Instagram as well as texting on their phones. Over the course of a year — from December 2023 to December 2024 — Crabb allegedly sent sexually explicit messages to the girl, including photos of his crotch. He also allegedly asked her to send him nude photos of herself and attempted to convince her to have sex with him.
The texts that Crabb allegedly sent to the girl alluded to his knowledge that what he was doing was inappropriate, such as, “Uhhhhh, I mean is it wrong for me to be sexually attracted to a minor? WHO SAID THAT.” He also allegedly stated his preference for underage girls, saying, “Nah cause they won’t be interesting [adult females] It’s more fun to groom heh.”
According to reporting by local news outlet Four Corners Sun, the girl told her mother this month about the sexually explicit messages she was receiving from Crabb, whom she called “Mr. Chase.” After the complaint was filed on Jan. 21, an investigation by the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office ensued, which resulted in an arrest warrant.
Crabb was arrested on Jan. 22 and booked into the Polk County Jail, where he remains held without bond. He was charged with two felonies, transmission of harmful material to a minor and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Crabb last worked at Haines High School in March 2024. Four Corners Sun reported that he was a temporary employee who worked through Kelly Services, which terminated Crabb due to inactivity. Polk County Public Schools never received a complaint about Crabb engaging in inappropriate behavior with students.
After making his initial court appearance on Jan. 23, Crabb was ordered to stay away from minor children and to abstain from using electronic devices with access to the internet. He is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 25 for his felony arraignment.
That is a judgmental blanket about every school. The schools I taught in were committed to providing a quality education to every single child. I taught in small districts (750-1,000 students in the entire district — pre-k through 12th grade). The teachers there were wonderful and loved teaching and loved the kids. We went above and beyond to make sure every student was learning and treated with respect. I don’t know what’s wrong with these teachers that are sexual predators. I taught middle and high school. Those kids were babies to me. Babies! I can’t even fathom what those predators are thinking to have relationships with children! They’re insane. The world is full of sin and those teachers should be imprisoned, never to get out again.
I really believe they should close all schools and have kids study on line,They are not learning anything anyway in most schools.
I agree with this one. It’s not the same as before. I don’t know what the teachers problem anymore. They are dirty sexual predators ring leaders. I don’t think I want my kids in the school. School districts have been a mess lately and they don’t want to educate kids anymore
Teachers are not the same as before. Seems like the teachers are going downhill and they don’t care about the kids anymore. But the teachers still want to get their paychecks.
This is not acceptable for the teachers. The district needs to fixed their problems. Most likely the whole school/district are not going to do anything about it. They would rather be at home. I had no reason to put my kids in the school. You can not trust the teachers. They have taught the kids how to have bad manners and no accountability for their future.