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Bartow Sex-Sting Teacher Faced Accusations Before

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By BILLY TOWNSEND | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 21, 2007

Documents: (pdf)School Board Complaint pg1 | pg2 | pg3 | pg4

BARTOW - A Bartow High School math teacher arrested on solicitation of sex charges was accused of inappropriate behavior with students before, according to Polk County School District records.

Isaac Nathan Tillis was suspended with pay from his post at Bartow High in November 2004 after two female students accused him of misconduct. One of the girls accused Tillis of trying to kiss her and passing her a suggestive note. The other girl said Tillis kissed her on the cheek during a tutoring session.

Tillis denied the charges, and they were ruled unfounded. Tillis was allowed to return to work. But the Polk superintendent at the time warned him to watch his behavior.

"While we have decided not to take disciplinary action, please understand that these were very serious allegations," Superintendent Jim Thornhill wrote in a letter Tillis. "Now that such allegations have been made, it is incumbent upon you to be circumspect in all of your dealings with students and to avoid any contact with students or any other circumstances out of which such allegations might arise."

Tillis, who was hired in 2003 by Bartow High, stayed out of trouble until this week, according to school district records.

But on Wednesday, a 16-year-old student who accused Tillis of propositioning her helped police arrest him by pretending to go along with his advances and wearing an audio device, according to Bartow police.

Police arrested Tillis as he exited a bathroom inside Bartow High's cafeteria teachers' lounge. Tillis had dropped his pants and told the girl to perform oral sex while alone in the bathroom with her, according to police.

Six police officers and school officials were nearby, closely monitoring the situation via audio link. When the girl said a prearranged codeword, they rushed in to arrest Tillis, police said.

Tillis is being held at Polk County Jail on charges of solicitation for unlawful sexual activity with a minor. His bail was set at $75,000. He has been suspended with pay pending a school district investigation, which won't occur until after the winter holidays, which started Wednesday.

Although police said Bartow High officials and the girl's parents were fully aware and supportive of the girl's role in the plan, top school district officials learned about the incident only after it occurred, said Ron Ciranna, assistant superintendent of human resources.

He said school officials and police will meet soon to review what happened and work out a formal policy for any similar events in the future.

"We're not second-guessing what happened," Ciranna said

But, he added, "We're still the gatekeepers of students' safety."

Wednesday's sting was necessary to make a better case against Tillis, who told the girl a day earlier that she could improve her grade in his math class by performing oral sex on him, said Larry Williams, acting director of law enforcement for Bartow police.

According to an arrest report, Tillis told the girl Tuesday that he could assign extra work so she could raise her grade but she would have "to do something for him."

She asked Tillis what he meant by that, and he indicated through gesture and slang that he meant oral sex, according to the report.

The student asked for a hall pass to use the restroom. On the pass, Tillis wrote that she could get an "A" in exchange for oral sex, the report states. The student refused and left.

Williams said she promptly notified a dean about what happened, and the Bartow Police Department became involved the next day.

"From the moment we found out about it, we put a plan together to apprehend him on the best charges we could," Williams said. Without the sting, Williams said, the case would have been a "he said, she said."

Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.

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