Polk County assistant principal accused of having teen student rub her feet

Asst. principal accused of lewd conduct

FOX 13's Evyn Moon reports on an assistant principal in Polk County who is under arrest after being accused of inappropriate behavior with a 13-year-old student.

POINCIANA, Fla. - An assistant principal in Polk County is under arrest, accused of inappropriate behavior with a 13-year-old student.

Dr. Keiva Lark, 53, is charged with lewd/lascivious conduct and lewd offense against a student by an authority figure.

The investigation of Dr. Keiva Lark

Timeline:

The investigation began on April 4 when the principal of Lake Marion Creek Middle in Poinciana contacted the sheriff's office.

Courtesy: Polk County Sheriff's Office

The alleged victim was sent to Lark's office after he threw a paper ball across the classroom during a test.

While in her office, according to two witnesses and the victim, Lark told the teen to rub her feet since he didn't have anything better to do with his hands. She is accused of taking her shoes off and placing her legs across the victim's lap, and he did as he was told, according to PCSO.

Lake Marion Creek Middle in Poinciana.

Lark was heard scolding the boy for not rubbing her feet the right way, and showed him how she would prefer to be massaged, by rubbing the child’s arm and shoulder.

Dig deeper:

A witness, who is a co-worker, told investigators they heard Lark tell the student to rub her feet like he loved her. Another witness heard Lark tell the victim that she was doing this so he would know what foreplay is for when he gets a girlfriend.

Lark later told one of the witnesses that she "crossed the line" during the incident.

Lake Marion Creek Middle in Poinciana.

During a forensic interview with the victim, he said that Lark had referred to him as "sexy chocolate" while passing him in the hallway at the school.

What they're saying:

"Dr. Lark initially told detectives that this was only a joke, and that she was just trying to humble the victim. It’s completely inappropriate for a 53-year-old woman to act and talk like this to a middle school boy. It’s even worse given that this was an assistant principal and her student," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

"She had a 13-year-old child that was at her school rub her feet. Did you hear what I said? That's right. This was a sexual encounter," said Judd. "She didn't think he was massaging them the right way. So she massaged his arms and his shoulders and then made the statement like, this will help teach you foreplay for when you have a girlfriend. That's how evil this conduct was. So she's in jail."

The sheriff's office says Lark later admitted that her actions were inappropriate for her profession, but she denied saying anything inappropriate to the victim.

"She made statements in the past to him, including calling him ‘sexy chocolate,’ and that just added to our probable cause that she had interest in him," Judd said.

Statement from Polk County Public Schools:

"This is abhorrent behavior for anyone who works among students, especially an administrator. This person no longer has any business being around children. We commend the school principal for immediately reporting this incident, so we could take action and work with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to protect students," said Fred Heid, Superintendent of Polk County Public Schools