Background: Haines City High School (Google Maps). Inset: Chase Crabb (Polk County Sheriff’s Office).
A former substitute teacher from Florida was arrested after he allegedly carried on an inappropriate relationship with a teenage student.
Chase Crabb, 23, was the subject of a criminal complaint filed in Polk County on Jan. 21, which prompted an investigation into his activities with a 16-year-old student. In a statement shared with WFLA, a local NBC affiliate, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said that Crabb met the unnamed girl in December 2023 when he was a substitute teacher at Haines City High School. They reportedly struck up conversations over email before progressing to social media and texts. Police said that once the girl, who was 15 years old at the time, told Crabb that she’d broken up with her boyfriend, their communications took a tawdry turn.
According to the information provided to the press by the sheriff’s office, Crabb and the girl communicated over TikTok, Discord, and Instagram as well as texting on their phones. Over the course of a year — from December 2023 to December 2024 — Crabb allegedly sent sexually explicit messages to the girl, including photos of his crotch. He also allegedly asked her to send him nude photos of herself and attempted to convince her to have sex with him.
The texts that Crabb allegedly sent to the girl alluded to his knowledge that what he was doing was inappropriate, such as, “Uhhhhh, I mean is it wrong for me to be sexually attracted to a minor? WHO SAID THAT.” He also allegedly stated his preference for underage girls, saying, “Nah cause they won’t be interesting [adult females] It’s more fun to groom heh.”
According to reporting by local news outlet Four Corners Sun, the girl told her mother this month about the sexually explicit messages she was receiving from Crabb, whom she called “Mr. Chase.” After the complaint was filed on Jan. 21, an investigation by the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office ensued, which resulted in an arrest warrant.
Crabb was arrested on Jan. 22 and booked into the Polk County Jail, where he remains held without bond. He was charged with two felonies, transmission of harmful material to a minor and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Crabb last worked at Haines High School in March 2024. Four Corners Sun reported that he was a temporary employee who worked through Kelly Services, which terminated Crabb due to inactivity. Polk County Public Schools never received a complaint about Crabb engaging in inappropriate behavior with students.
After making his initial court appearance on Jan. 23, Crabb was ordered to stay away from minor children and to abstain from using electronic devices with access to the internet. He is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 25 for his felony arraignment.
