Tulsa Sixth-Grade Teacher Arrested For Attempted Lewd Molestation

Tulsa police arrested a middle school teacher on four complaints of attempted lewd molestation. The victim is a 12-year-old student at Thoreau. The suspect is a 6th grade teacher at Thoreau named Brian Drabek.

Drabek, was booked in Tulsa County Jail Thursday night, he's being held on $200,000 bond, accused both of inappropriate texting and touching a student.

The 41 year old spent all afternoon with child crisis detectives, who interviewed him about his relationship with a 12-year-old student.

He's accused of lewd molestation - based on text messages sent to the female student - and some inappropriate touching is alleged to have occurred, both in a classroom at Thoreau and at Drabek's home.

Reports say that as their relationship grew, he had gone over the student's home, picked her up and brought her to his house on two separate occasions; each time he had sexual contact with her.

"That is correct, he invited her over to the house, he got her over there and one of the incidents happened at the house," said Corporal Greg Smith with Tulsa Police.

Drabek was called out of his last class of the day to talk with police. He was arrested shortly afterward and taken out of the building.

The principal, Tom Padalino, sent a half page note home with students telling them and their parents about the arrest.

Dear Thoreau Parents and Guardians:

  I wanted to make you aware of a situation that occurred today, so you are not caught off guard if you hear about it on the news. This afternoon, Brian Drabek, a 6th grade teacher at Thoreau Demonstration Academy, was arrested by the police on charges of sexual assault.

  An investigation is currently underway. At this time, we are unable to provide additional details. Mr. Drabek has been placed on paid suspension until further notice.

  Please know that we take charges like this very seriously and are doing everything we can to cooperate with the authorities.

  If you have any questions, please contact my office at 918-833-9705.

He was immediately placed on paid suspension, which is standard procedure while charges are pending.

Drabek has worked at Tulsa Public Schools since the fall of 2001. He's a 6th grade math & science teacher at Thoreau, but he's also taught at Mayo. His school website says he's from Oklahoma City; with an education degree from OU. He's a divorced father with two elementary age children.

Child crisis detectives said they only know of the one victim, a student at the school.

"At this time there's one known victim, but of course in a situation where you've got someone with access to children, you always want to investigate whether there might be more," Smith said.

Police say Drabek is facing four counts, involving some touching at the school - more serious touching at his home - in addition to some text messages sent to the student.

Police say the first red flag is often contact outside school hours, texting or phone calls, more friendly than professional.

They say to ask children open ended questions about whether anyone has done anything that made them uncomfortable and see what they say.