Middle school teacher accused of grooming student, dating mother to ‘get closer to’ teen

OVIEDO, Fla. (WESH) - A public school teacher in Florida is now in trouble with the law.

The 41-year-old is accused in Seminole County of having a relationship with a 13-year-old student and the child’s mother.

Tuesday’s court hearing was short. The judge held Daniel Le Lievre without bond.

Le Lievre is a far cry from where he was in 2022 when he was welcomed to Tuskawilla Middle School. The school previously noted he has two daughters of his own.

“He just seemed like a very nice young man,” one resident who lives in the same Oviedo subdivision as Le Lievre said.

Detectives said he raped the 13-year-old girl, who is the daughter of a woman he was in a relationship with for about four months around Christmas 2023.

“I’m just really, really shocked by it and saddened at the same time,” the neighbor added.

According to Oviedo police, Le Lievre changed the girl’s schedule at Tuskawilla Middle School to get her in his classroom without her mother’s consent.

According to the arrest report, Le Lievre groomed the teen in his classroom before, during and after class. It states he even taught her how to use Morse code so the two could communicate.

Detectives said the mother caught Le Lievre talking to her daughter on the phone in the middle of the night multiple times and holding her hands at Disney Springs.

Le Lievre also allegedly opened a bank account in the daughter’s name and added money to it.

When Le Lievre and the woman broke up, detectives said he told the daughter he only dated the mother to “get closer to” the teen.

The school district said Le Lievre was placed on administrative leave once the allegations surfaced of an inappropriate relationship nearly two years ago. He will not be rehired, according to district officials.

In a statement, the school board said the safety of students and staff is the district’s top priority. The statement said any behavior that undermines safety is not tolerated.