CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Why 43-year-old Warren Zilka was smiling in this photo taken just after his arrest is a mystery, considering the charges of which he is accused.
Zilka, an 8th grade teacher at Imagine Charter School, turned himself in to the Coral Springs Police Department, and he is facing two felony charges of transmitting material harmful to a minor and unlawful transmission of obscene material.
Zilka bonded out of jail Friday night.
He is accused of sending over 100 emails to a 14-year-old student, many of which were very sexually explicit.
Police say Zilka sent the sexually explicit and lewd emails and he wasn't shy about what device he used to send them.
"It is alleged that he did do it from his school-issued computer. The emails were transmitted from it," said Sgt. Carla Kmiotek of the Coral Springs Police Dept.
Imagine Charter says they did a full background check on Zilka and once the investigation was revealed to them, he was removed from the classroom and they are cooperating with police. But there is a concern there may be more victims.
"This incident actually occurred at the end of last school year in May," Kmiotek said. "That was his first year teaching at Imagine Charter, but before that he was at Paladin Charter School, which was located in Weston."
Zilka's next door neighbor, John Reisinger, told Local 10's Baron James that he found it very hard to believe that the man he knows as a friendly father of three and a teacher to many other parents' kids could be the same guy who turned himself into Coral Springs police.
"It's a shock, he's a really nice guy," said Reisinger. "He's always been friendly and helpful. I never would have suspected anything."
Local 10's Baron James stopped by the Zilka home Friday night and an apparent relative answered the door, but they gave no comment.
"I hope it's investigated and I hope it's investigated fairly, and there's no bias either way," said Reisinger.
Zilka's bond was set at $3,500.