JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — *The above, related video was originally published April 14.
Prosecutors filed a new sex charge Tuesday against former a Douglas Anderson teacher pulled from the classroom and arrested in March, bringing the total charges against him to four.
Jeffrey Clayton's attorney waived his appearance and pleaded not guilty on his behalf to one count of indecent, lewd or lascivious touching of a minor, two counts of offenses against students, and one count of the unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
If convicted, Clayton could face more than two years in prison, prosecutors said Tuesday.
A former Douglas Anderson employee and mother to former students says she is surprised by the accusations against Clayton but says it shouldn't affect the school's credibility.
"Don't let one bad apple take away from the experience of that school because it is by far one of the most fantastic arts high schools around," mother and former employee Arlene Levy said.
Clayton was a vocal teacher at Douglas Anderson for more than 20 years. His arrest warrant provides details on the investigation.
On March 17, a student's father dropped her off for a one-on-one voice lesson with the 65-year-old teacher. The student sat on a couch in Clayton's office while he sat in a chair next to her. He began talking about his "intoxicating" feelings for the student before he began rubbing her thighs, according to the arrest warrant.
Clayton reportedly began kissing the student, first with his mouth closed then escalated to kissing her with his mouth open, putting his tongue in her mouth, the warrant said.
When there was about ten minutes left in the singing lesson, Clayton stood up and began teaching. The student's parent picked her up and took her home, according to the arrest warrant.
The victim told one of her friends what happened with Clayton, which prompted a DCF employee and a Clay County Sheriff's deputy to visit the student's home. The parents then reported the incident to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the warrant said.
Investigators worked with the victim to record a phone call between herself and Clayton. The call lasted around 30 minutes and was recorded. The details of the phone call are redacted in the arrest warrant.
The victim provided screenshots of texts from Clayton - One of the texts from the teacher said "I feel freaking amazing! Wow!"
Officials said there were around 1700 texts between Clayton and the victim.
Levy says her kids never had an encounter with Clayton but she remembers him.
"He kind of, you know, stuck to himself, he didn't really talk to us parents really, per se," Levy said. "I was very glad that someone finally took the initiative. I'm just sorry, it took so long for that to happen."
Since then, Duval County Public Schools superintendent says many as 140 students were asked to speak to prosecutors about the investigation.
Morgan & Morgan has confirmed it is representing some former Douglas Anderson students and in a statement, John Morgan and Jeffrey Moody said:
“The alleged incidents of sexual misconduct at Douglas Anderson School for the Arts have had life-altering impacts on the lives of the victims, including our clients, who deserve justice to the fullest extent of the law."
"I think that the current superintendent is definitely going to try to look at this problem and try to solve it. And I think that now, that's what we need to do. And we need to go forward from now on from with this," Levy said.
The attorneys we spoke to say it's not clear if he will be required to register as a sex offender if convicted of the charges.
Clayton's next hearing in court is May 10th.
