Some charges dropped against teacher accused of having inappropriate relationship with teen

DORAL, Fla. ā€“ Some charges have been dropped against a Doral teacher who was arrested last month on accusations of having an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old former student.

On Tuesday, the state only filed one charge against Heiry Calvi at her arraignment, and it was not sexual in nature.

ā€œThe charges against Ms. Calvi this entire investigation have been entirely based on junior high school rumors,ā€ her attorney, Orlando Rodriguez, said.

Calvi, 41, was arrested in early October after being accused of committing sex crimes against the teen.

Police said Calvi was the teenā€™s former teacher at the John I. Smith K-8 Center in Doral.

But when he started attending J.C. Bermudez Doral Senior High School, Calvi began tutoring the teen at his home, her arrest report stated.

Calvi initially faced eight charges, including two counts of sexual battery.

But she was only arraigned Tuesday for a charge of offenses against a student by an authority figure.

According to her arrest report, detectives say they found ā€œnude photos of the teacher with the victim, as well as a Whatsapp message thread with texts saying, ā€œI love you,ā€ and other messages expressing a romantic relationship.

After first denying the relationship, the report says the victim in a follow-up interview admitted they had sex, and ā€œreiterated he is not a victim and she never raped him.ā€

Calviā€™s attorney says the student has denied the allegations since day one.

ā€œThe young man has always been steadfast that there was no inappropriate relationship in this case, so there was no story to change because heā€™s always said no inappropriate behavior ever occurred,ā€ Rodriguez said.

The maximum punishment for Calviā€™s remaining charge, which is a second-degree felony, is 15 years, but the defense plans to fight it, as well.

A status hearing will be held in 30 days.


About the Author:

Annaliese Garcia joined Local 10 News in January 2020. Born and raised in Miami, she graduated from the University of Miami, where she studied broadcast journalism. She began her career at Univision. Before arriving at Local 10, she was with NBC2 (WBBH-TV) covering Southwest Florida. She's glad to be back in Miami!