Teacher Facing Charges For Alleged Obscene Emails Is Out Of Jail
CORAL SPRINGS (CBSMiami) - A teacher in Coral Springs is facing two felony charges for allegedly sending a student obscene material over the Internet.
Warren Zilka, a former teacher at the Imagine Charter in Broward, turned himself into the Coral Springs Police Department Friday afternoon. He was released from jail early Saturday morning.
Zilka, 43, allegedly sent over 100 emails to a 14-year-old student. Several of the emails had explicit sexual content and reportedly sent from his school-issued computer.
Zilka is facing two felony charges of transmitting material harmful to a minor and unlawful transmit of obscene material.
Linda Arnold, Principal of Imagine Charter School and Imagine Middle, told CBS4 that the school worked with the police department on the investigation and that Zilka has been placed on leave since Tuesday afternoon.
Arnold released a statement that reads, in part: "We are extremely disappointed to hear of Mr Zilka's arrest and will continue to work cooperatively as we have been doing with the Coral Springs Police Department. Although we are a public charter school, we follow all of the statues of the State of Florida and required background checks. At this time, our main concern is to continue to provide a safe and secure environment." The principal said counselors will be available Monday.
Some parents at the school had heard about the allegations, others had no idea about them.
"I didn't know about it. That's pretty bad," said Juan Salazar.
Shewana Acciaio has three students at the school. "You can't really blame the school itself for it," she said, adding, "The teachers should be responsible for their own actions."
Police say Zilka admitted sending the emails. They want to know if he's done anything similar before. Police say he only taught at Imagine for about a year and previously taught at Paladin, another charter school in Broward County.
If he's convicted, parents want him out of the school system. "He should be punished for it. He should be reprimanded. He should lose his license," said Acciaio.
Anyone with any information about this case please contact Detective Jill Shelton of the Coral Springs Police Department at (954) 346-1222.
