Adkins on trafficking, security amid local high school sex scandal

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Lee County Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Adkins will not say whether the 15-year-old student involved in a viral high school sex scandal is a victim of human trafficking.

At least 70 percent of human trafficking cases in Lee County involve children recruited between the ages 12 and 14, according to local advocates. And while the school district has been reluctant to provide details on the case involving a girl having sex with a number of boys in a bathroom at South Fort Myers High School, Adkins said human trafficking has touched Lee County students.

“It’s been a problem that we have found in Lee County that has been persistent. Hopefully it’s not a growing problem, but it’s certainly a problem that has been with us for a while,” he said.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office recently renewed its investigation into the incident and arrested a 16-year-old who is facing charges for cruelty towards a child, allowing a child to engage in a sexual act, and possession of obscene material for videotaping the incident, officials said.

An arrest report released Tuesday indicated that students were having sex in the school bathroom 10 minutes after the end of classes on May 17. Two videos were uploaded to Facebook an hour later and again the next morning, the report said.

Adkins said the school district is also conducting an internal investigation but would not provide comment on the severity of disciplinary action taken against involved students. Five students were suspended and 11 more were disciplined, the school district said.

“We, as a school district, have our own independent investigation, which was, had continued, all during that period of time,” he said.

The Department of Children and Families is also investigating.

The school district is responding to the incident with a new safety and security task force, which will begin work next school year. Adkins said the school district will continue to review district-wide protocols.

“I feel as a school district it is important to have, really, a district wide set of protocols that all schools practice,” Adkins said. “I think that overall we do have good safety and security in our buildings but we can always do better.”

Parents should feel confident sending their children to South Fort Myers High School, Adkins said.

“Absolutely. Absolutely, it is safe and getting even safer every day,” he said.