Photo: Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office
A once-lauded teacher at a Florida middle school was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly exchanging lewd pictures with underage girls, PEOPLE confirms.
According to the Jacksonville Public Education Fundwebsite, Beckstrom, who attended Jacksonville University, had previously been named a school-level “‘teacher of the year.”
Duval County Public Schools did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
It is unclear whether Beckstrom has an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
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The arrest report states that a second female reached out to the first girl on Instagram to tell her that erikb20172018 “is not who you think he is.”
Beckstrom had allegedly confessed his identity to the second girl, with whom he had exchanged inappropriate images, once the second girl noticed that his picture and video did not match his profile picture, which was apparently designed to make him seem like a 17-year-old boy, according to the report.
In another troubling incident, the arrest report notes that Beckstrom once allegedly took a female student’s underwear out of her bag.
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Police seized his iPad and iPhone.
“He was a great guy and a great teacher, so this is such shocking news,” school parent Brea Nelson said to WJXT. “Disheartening for anybody or parent who’s dealing with the fact that their child had this teacher.”
Another parent said much the same.
“As soon as I saw it, I was at work, I just wanted to throw up,” Amanda Jansentold WJAX. “Momma bear comes out and you just want to protect them.”
source: people.com
