Brevard County

Deputies: Not enough evidence to prove crime in Brevard Public Schools bathroom incident

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — There is not enough evidence to prove that a crime was committed after a Brevard County student claimed she was groped in a school bathroom, according to Brevard County deputies.

According to a report provided by the sheriff’s office, a female student at Space Coast Junior/Senior High who may have been pregnant claimed another student who identifies as and dresses like a girl stood in front of her, grabbed her breast and asked, “Do they hurt?”

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The other student said it was only her belly that was touched and that the student asked her how far along she was, but she did not reply. The student denied touching any other part of her body.

The report was released Thursday after state Rep. Randy Fine wrote a letter earlier this month calling on the State Board of Education to investigate an alleged sexual assault in a girl’s bathroom at Johnson Middle School in Brevard County. Fine said he’d heard from parents that a girl was attacked by a transgender girl.

Read: Lawmaker seeks investigation into bathroom attack by transgender student that there’s no record of

School district spokesman Russel Bruhn said the alleged incident at Johnson Middle School didn’t happen, and Melbourne police had no report of it, either.

Fine said Thursday that he received a report from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office stating an incident inside a restroom at Space Coast Junior/Senior High was reported in June.

Read: Missing child found inside Florida teacher’s home

Fine said he believes the incident shows boys and transgender girls shouldn’t be allowed in girls bathrooms, and he feels the district should have acknowledged a similar incident did happen at a different school.

A school district spokesman told Channel 9 they didn’t bring it up last time because the district is responsible for protecting students’ federal privacy rights and didn’t want to risk violating those rights.

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Jeff Deal

Jeff Deal, WFTV.com

I joined the Eyewitness News team as a reporter in 2006.

Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.