ORLANDO, Fla. – Avalon Middle School teacher Andrew Montalvo told deputies he was intoxicated when he requested and received nude photos from one of his former students, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
Montalvo was arrested on Wednesday.
Orange County Public Schools officials said Montalvo, a seventh-grade civics teacher, has been on relief of duty since Nov. 29, one day after a woman told school administrators that Montalvo had requested nude photos from her granddaughter and one of her granddaughter's friends through Instagram and Snapchat, the incident report said.
The 16-year-old victim told deputies that she was Montalvo's student when she was 14 and the two kept in contact through social media. Sometime during the summer, the girl said she posted pictures of herself in a bikini and Montalvo made a comment about wanting to see more of her body, according to an arrest warrant.
The girl told deputies she sent Montalvo nude pictures at his request, officials said.
The other girl involved told deputies that after Montalvo, 31, requested the inappropriate pictures, the girls decided to "blackmail" him by telling him to pay them $2,000 so they wouldn't turn over the messages to authorities, deputies said. It's unclear if the second girl received any inappropriate requests from Montalvo.
Montalvo met with the girls at a Family Dollar store on Colonial Drive Nov. 6 and gave them $2,000 in cash, the report said. Montalvo asked the girl to show him her phone to prove that the messages had been deleted, but the girl refused, deputies said.
The teen told deputies that she had taken screenshots of the messages during the inappropriate exchange over the summer, but she lost her phone in September, so she no longer had the screenshots, the arrest warrant said.
Deputies said Montalvo admitted during an interview on Dec. 8 that he did ask the girl for photos because he was intoxicated. He called the decision a mistake and said he paid the $2,000 so it wouldn't become public, according to the arrest affidavit.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office digital forensics unit examined Montalvo's phone and found a conversation in which he asked his friend to bring a gun because he needed "backup." When the friend asked why, deputies said Montalvo told him he was being extorted.
"I got messaged and it led to pics being sent and apparently this chick is underage," Montalvo texted his friend, according to the warrant.
The principal told deputies that Montalvo approached him a few weeks before the investigation began and claimed that his Instagram had been hacked. The principal told Montalvo to file a police report, but it's unclear if he ever did.
Montalvo was arrested Wednesday and charged with obscene communication. His bond was set Thursday at $10,000 and he was ordered not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18 or the victim and her family.
An OCPS official said that while on relief of duty, Montalvo is prohibited from having contact with students or being at the school. Since he has been arrested, he has 48 hours to self-report his arrest to OCPS.
From there, officials will investigate the charges and bring a recommendation to the school board about the future of his employment. The school board will need five days after the recommendation is filed, then they will vote on the matter at the school board meeting. Jan. 24 is the soonest possible meeting where officials could vote on Montalvo's employment.
If Montalvo does not report his arrest, OCPS will give him three days and then terminate him for "job abandonment."
Parents at the middle school on Thursday said the accusations about Montalvo were disturbing.
"It's just sick, I mean, these kids are at a very vulnerable age at 11 to 14 and they trust anybody, a lot of them do, and it's just sick," one mother said.