Pompano Beach substitute teacher accused of molesting former student

A substitute teacher in Broward County is accused of molesting a former student starting when the boy was 14, and there may be other victims, the Broward Sheriff ’s Office said Friday.

The mother of the

now-15-year-old boy recently searched his cellphone and found inappropriate Facebook messages between her son and Vernell Hicks, 30, of Pompano Beach, according to an arrest report.

The messages started June 3,

2017, and were arranging rendezvous for sex, investigators said.

The woman told detectives Hicks taught her son when he went to Crystal Lakes Middle School in Pompano Beach two years ago.

The teenager told detectives Hicks would coordinate their meetings through the Facebook account Hicks helped set up. The teenager said Hicks would pick him up and take him to a commercial warehouse where Hicks performed sex acts on the teenager five or six times, the report stated.

The Broward County School District said Friday Hicks that Hicks had been employed as a substitute teacher in Sept. 20, 2015 and was fired.

Hicks was arrested about noon Thursday at Pompano Beach Middle School, where he most recently worked as a coach, the sheriff ’s office said.

During questioning, Hicks denied engaging in sex acts with the teen but later admitted he performed a sex act once and fondled the teenager other times, detectives said.

Hicks is charged with sex offenses that include lewd and lascivious behavior on a person between

12 and 16 by a person 18 or older, records show. He was being held in the Broward County Jail on a $150,000 bond, records show.

The sheriff ’s office said Hicks is affiliated with a church in Pompano Beach. Hicks also founded and is the artistic director of a children’s dance program called The Dream Project Arts Academy, the agency said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Sira Arroyo at 954-321-4200. Broward County Crime Stoppers will accept anonymous tips at

954-493-8477 or online at browardcrimestoppers.org. The organization will pay up to $3,000 for information that leads to an arrest.