DeJean Myrtil, South Tech Academy charter school employee, charged with lewd behavior with student

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - An employee at South Tech Academy charter school in Boynton Beach was arrested Thursday after police allege he had sexual relations with a 15-year-old student at his school.

Lantana police arrested DeJean Myrtil, 27, and charged him with lewd or lascivious battery, a second-degree felony.

Myrtil is alleged to have had sex with an underage female student at the school over the last few months, according to a press release from the Lantana Police Department.

The alleged incidents began when the girl was 15. She is now 16, Police Commander Sean Scheller said.

None of the alleged incidents happened on the school's campus, Scheller said.

Myrtil is a dean's assistant at the charter high school and mentored the in-school suspension program, according to police.

He has been placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the investigation, said Jim Kidd, the school's founder.

Kidd said that "some things" were reported to school administrators regarding Myrtil's behavior, and that report triggered an investigation by the school along with police.

Kidd declined to be more specific, although he reiterated that all the alleged incidents happened in Lantana, and not on school grounds.

A spokesman for the school said Myrtil was thoroughly background checked and vetted before he was hired.