WASHINGTON — A fourth-grade teacher accused of inappropriately touching an 11-year-old boy will stay behind bars after a brief court appearance on Friday.
Giovanni Peña , 31, of D.C. was arrested on June 2 after investigators say he admitted touching the boy and sending him images of his private parts.
Lawyers on both sides of the case agreed to continue Peña’s initial hearing and they plan to appear before the judge again next week.
According to court documents, the investigation began when the Metropolitan Police Department was called to Oyster Adams Elementary School in Northwest D.C. on June 1. A boy told police his former fourth-grade teacher touched him on “both private parts” while he was in Peña’s class during the 2013-2014 school year. At the time the boy would have been 9 or 10 years old.
The boy also told investigators that Peña sent pictures of his private parts to the boy over the messaging app SnapChat. It’s also believed that in addition to being his teacher, Peña was a close family friend and had traveled on vacation with the boy.
On June 2, police say they interviewed Peña and he admitted to touching the boy, and allowing the boy to touch his private areas on top of their clothing. He was then arrested by police.
In a statement, D.C. Public Schools said, “The safety of our students is a top priority. As soon as we became aware of this situation, we acted promptly to remove the teacher from the school and fully cooperate with MPD in this investigation. We are focusing our attention on supporting our students and school community. As this is an active police investigation, any questions should be referred to MPD.”
Peña is on paid administrative leave and will be back in court on June 11.
