A 45-year-old Jamaican maths teacher now behind bars at Hernando County Sheriff’s Office in Spring Hill, Florida, on charges of distributing obscene material to a minor and using a two-way device during the commission of a felony, is being held on a US$25,000 bond.

According to a Hernando County Sheriff’s Office spokesman with whom the Jamaica Observer spoke on Friday, while the US Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was notified of the charges against Jonathan Rowe — the trigger for the deportation process — it is yet to respond. He, however, emphasised that even if deportation is scheduled, Rowe will still have to go through the court process there before being sent back to Jamaica.

“ICE was notified that he is here and nobody responded back, putting kind of like a detainer on him. So basically he is just in jail on a bond until his next court date,” the sherriff’s office official said.

“His next court date is scheduled for June 17. If ICE responds between now and that time they could schedule the deportation, but these are like some serious charges,” the law enforcer told the Observer.

ROWE… accused of showing nude photos of himself to one of his students at a Florida middle school

According to the official, Rowe, who made his first appearance before the court there last week, was read the charges and asked whether he wanted an attorney assigned or would hire one.

Rowe is currently being represented by a court-appointed attorney, the Observer was reliably informed.

“His next court date is an arraignment; they will let him know the charges were filed and usually nothing happens then. Then, from there, it can either go to a plea agreement or trial,” the official explained.

According to news reports carried by Hernando County local media, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office began its probe after deputies learned of allegations that Rowe, who taught maths at Florida middle school Explorer K-8, had shown nude photos of himself to one of his students.

Rowe, who had taught grades six through eight at the school since last August, was terminated last week Wednesday, May 14 and “will not be allowed to return”, according to the school.

According to news reports, the 15-year-old student told detectives he was in Rowe’s classroom during a planning period. The student reportedly said he and Rowe had recently taken a photo together, and when he asked to see it, Rowe began scrolling through images on his phone.

The student said Rowe would occasionally stop scrolling, pausing on what appeared to be photos of his genitalia.

According to the sheriff’s office, the student further alleged that Rowe then asked him to take his phone into the school bathroom and take pictures of his own genitalia to show him. Authorities said the student refused to do as asked.

Investigators conducted an interview with Rowe, during which they said he admitted to having nude photos on his phone but declined to say whether he had showed them to the student.

The middle school teacher was arrested at his Spring Hill home on Monday last week and the charges laid against him.

The Observer has placed queries with the Ministry of Education as to Rowe’s employment history here.

According to media reports, the sherriff’s office said Rowe is a citizen of Jamaica and is in the United States on a J-1 visa — which allows foreigners to enter the US for educational or exchange programmes.

To be eligible for this visa, individuals must meet the qualifications for teaching at the primary (including pre-kindergarten) or secondary levels in schools in their home country; must be working as a teacher in their home country at the time of application; and must have at least two years of full-time teaching experience.

If not working as a teacher in their home country at the time of application, individuals must otherwise meet the qualifications for teaching at the primary (including pre-kindergarten) or secondary levels in schools in the home country; must have at least two years of full-time teaching experience within the past eight years; and, within 12 months of their application submission date for the programme, must have or will have completed an advanced degree (beyond a degree equivalent to a US bachelor’s degree) in education or in an academic subject matter in which they intend to teach, or that is directly related to their teaching subject field.

Individuals are required to be prepared to present their official degree that is equivalent to a US bachelor’s degree in either education or the academic subject field in which they intend to teach.