An assistant baseball coach at Celebration High School was arrested Thursday after Osceola Sheriff's officials say he had been requesting explicit photos of CHS students and touching some of them, reportedly for weeks.
The charges against Samuel Figueroa, 43, are extensive: lewd and lascivious molestation, lewd and lascivious conduct, sexual performance by a child, unlawful use of a communication device, offenses against students by authority figures and indecent, lewd or lascivious touching of certain minors.
When loaded into a police cruiser to be taken to the Osceola County Jail Thursday, Figueroa stayed silent, but Sheriff Lopez said the man said, "Are you serious?" when the Sheriff came to issue his arrest.
"It is serious," Lopez said, noting several female students at the school aged 15-18 came forward, after sharing the allegations with their parents, in the last few weeks -- corresponding with Spring Break in March -- to tell authorities about the incidents. They described individual contacts with Mr. Figueroa, when he did and said sexually-inappropriate things, including some "messaging" on and off school property.
Per the School District, Figueroa was removed from campus when the investigation began, and he resigned his position on March 27. He had been a varsity assistant baseball coach since 2018, and this winter, after two other coaches left the school or were removed from the program, he was the Storm's impromptu girls basketball coach.
Lopez shared that in one case Figueroa, who was employed at Celebration High as a support staff clerk, asked a student go into the bathroom and send him photos of their breasts, and told others how, "their bodies got him sexually aroused." Two other female students came forward to say he touched them in a sexual way. An investigation revealed other female juvenile victims, all CHS students.
"Since we believe there could be other victims of Mr. Figueroa, we ask if anyone else had an encounter that made them uncomfortable, to please contact us, as we expect there will be further charges filed," Lopez said. "He has abused his power and position as a sexual deviant lurking in our schools.
"These are things we take very seriously, especially if you want to work in our schools. We will make sure people like this aren't able to hurt children again. If he's charged appropriately he will never work in our schools again. I have a daughter, I'm sure some of the fathers would have wanted to respond in a different way."
Word from at least one student attending Celebration High is that, as part of his job, Figueroa was observed checking in students referred to administration for dress code violations and skipping classes, to be processed for in-school suspension (ISS). They also said that some of the females involved may be athletes on Storm school teams.
The Sheriff was asked if any of the victims or any other students reported any of the allegations to Celebration High officials. The parent of a CHS student said they received an automated call from school Principal Conner Gilbert Thursday, noting that "at no point should any of the students feel uncomfortable at any time," and that Figueroa was arrested Thursday for lewd and lascivious behavior and that he is no longer and employee of the district.
Check back at AroundOsceola.com for updates to this story as they are received.
