A 40-year-old dean at Lake Weir Middle School was arrested after a female student accused him of sexually battering her.
On Thursday, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes detective met with the female victim who stated that Henry Lee Anderson II had sexually battered her during a post-workout massage.
According to the victim, Anderson would regularly take a few of the school’s student athletes to a local gym to work out after practice. On Wednesday, the victim stated that she had messaged Anderson and asked if they could go to the gym. He originally told her no, but he later changed his mind and picked her up from her home at around 10 p.m.
Anderson took the victim to Lake Weir Middle School, and the victim did a leg workout inside the school’s weight room. After the workout, the victim laid on a table, on her stomach, and Anderson proceeded to massage her legs.
The victim stated that he would commonly help massage her legs due to pain that she would experience on her shins and hamstrings. During the alleged incident on Wednesday, the victim told the detective that Anderson massaged her all the way up to her leg, hamstrings, and buttocks.
As the interview continued, the victim recalled Anderson pulling a cream out of his bag, and he allegedly massaged her legs, going “higher and higher.” He then allegedly removed the victim’s basketball shorts, which left her only in her underwear, and the alleged sexual battery then occurred.
When Anderson walked away to turn up the air conditioning in the weight room, the victim stated that she used her cellphone to send multiple text messages and a picture to her friend. She then put her shorts back on, and Anderson returned and offered to take her to Wendy’s for a meal.
After they went to the fast food restaurant, Anderson dropped the victim off at her home at around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday.
The MCSO report indicated that the detective viewed the victim’s cellphone. There were multiple text messages from the victim, sent to her friend, which alleged that Anderson was “touching her all weird.” The timestamp of the messages, and the timestamp of a picture which showed the victim laying on the weight room table in her underwear, were consistent with the timeline that was provided by the victim.
On Thursday, an MCSO deputy responded to Lake Weir Middle School and transported Anderson to MCSO Central Operations for questioning. He agreed to speak with the detective.
During the interview, Anderson denied knowing why he was being interviewed and provided several inconsistent statements about the contact that he had with the victim on Wednesday night.
Anderson was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail where he is currently being held on $10,000 bond. He is facing a felony charge for sexual battery of a victim 12 years of age or older but younger than 18 years old.
A court date has been scheduled on Tuesday, June 7 at 9 a.m., according to jail records.
Due to the nature of the allegations and Anderson’s position as a dean at Lake Weir Middle School, MCSO investigators believe that there may be additional victims. If anyone feels that they may have been a victim, contact Detective Caitlin Hartigan (352-368-3535) or Detective Karla Santana-Palau (352-368-3548).