4th grade teacher arrested in child sex abuse case

A fourth grade teacher at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School in Northwest D.C. is accused of child sex abuse.

D.C. police arrested 31-year-old Giovanni Peña on Tuesday after an allegation of sexual abuse involving a juvenile at the school surfaced on Monday.

Peña is charged with second degree sexual abuse of a child.

Court documents say a male student alleges Peña of touching the boy's penis, buttocks and thighs through his clothing inside the teacher's classroom while class was in session. It happened on two different occasions during 2013-2014 school year. The child was between 9 and 10 years old when the alleged incidents took place.

The court affidavit also says the victim told authorities that Peña sent the boy a self-photo of his penis through the Snapchat phone app.

In an interview with police, Peña admitted to the sexual abuse, documents say.

The school says Peña has been removed from the classroom.

The teacher joined Oyster-Adams in 2008. His online biography states, "When Mr. Peña is not in the classroom, he enjoys working out, attempting to cook Dominican food, reading and hanging out with friends and Oyster families."

He has also taught the second and third grade, according to the Oyster-Adams Bilingual School.

STATEMENT FROM DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS:

The safety of our students is a top priority. As soon as we became aware of this situation, we acted promptly to remove the teacher from the school and fully cooperate with MPD in this investigation. We are focusing our attention on supporting our students and school community. As this is an active police investigation, any questions should be referred to MPD.