A Broward high school debate teacher has resigned after being accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a student and forcing students to pay fees to attend his class.
The school district started investigating Dario Camara, 42, a teacher at Western High in Davie, after Davie police arrested him on fraud-related charges in February. The charges came after a business owner said he was never paid for nearly $16,000 in catering services he provided. Camara has pleaded not guilty.
After Camara's arrest became public, a Western High student shared with police and district officials a text exchange he said he had with Camara that included references to Camara's sex life and alleged drug use.
Camara was scheduled to meet with a Broward schools police detective about the text messages but canceled the meetings, saying he was resigning, school district records show.
"Your resignation, effective November 1, 2024, has been processed and your personnel file has been coded for non-rehire status, resigned in lieu of termination," said a Nov. 7 letter to Camara from Jeffrey Levine, a police lieutenant assigned to the district's professional standards department.
Camara could not be reached for comment by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, despite attempts by phone and text message on Monday and Tuesday. His defense lawyer in his criminal case, Jeremy Michaelson, declined to comment when reached Tuesday.
The school district's investigation of Camara began on March 5 to determine whether the allegations detailed in his arrest may also violate school district policy and affect his employment with the district. He was reassigned to a job with no student contact during the investigation.
While a debate teacher, Camara had asked Exquisite Catering by Robert, owned by the father of a Western High student, to cater debate tournaments during October 2022 and April 2023. But he failed to pay the bill of nearly $16,000 and misled the caterer about who was supposed to pay it, the district investigation found.
Camara spoke with Broward Schools Police Detective Thomas Honan on April 25 about the catering issue. He told Honan that Western's debate booster club was supposed to pay the expenses using money it received from the Florida Forensic League, a group where Camara served as vice president.
The booster club was $18,000 in debt and would have never agreed to take on the catering expense, the club president told a school district investigator.
"You told me that the booster club was gonna pay for it. The booster club had no knowledge of it," Honan told Camara, according to testimony included in the investigation.
"That's how I always have done things, and that's the extent of my knowledge. ...," Camara responded. "The fact that they can't pay for it and the money's not there, is not my fault."
The investigation concluded that Camara secured the services for the debate team events on campus without the principal's approval or knowledge, a violation of district rules.
The investigation was expanded on April 28 after a Sun Sentinel news article reported that Camara had emailed students and parents instructing them to pay $125 in dues for students to attend his debate class or participate in after-school activities. This is a violation of the school district policy, which bans the practice of "pay to play" for school classes or activities, the investigation concluded.
The district's investigation also confirmed that Camara had access to the booster club's credit card and PayPal accounts, despite a district policy prohibiting employees from accessing these funds.
The district launched a second investigation of Camara on May 14 after a Western High tenth grade student shared a text message exchange with a teacher who reported it to Davie police.
The student, whose age was redacted in the report, told investigators with Davie police and the school district that he initially reached out to Camara, after learning he's gay. "I wanted advice on things, like HIV prevention, like the medications and all that," the student told investigators.
The student said he visited Camara's classroom a few times and had "one-on-one conversations" and got his cell phone number, the investigation said.
A series of "inappropriate text messaging conversations" started during the early morning hours of Oct. 21, 2023, the investigation states.
"We just get high and roll on weekends. Don't share that," Camara texted the student, according to the text exchange included in the investigation.
The message later quotes Camara as saying, "Money and coke. The boys love it." The message later quotes him as saying, "I give a 100 and a bump and I get who I want from Wilton [Manors]."
The text exchange also includes some descriptions of sexual activities with other men, as well as several photos. One photo included a close-up of a man's legs. Another showed a young man in boxer shorts.
The student quit responding by early November 2023, the text message chain shows.
The teen told investigators the text messages made him so uncomfortable "that he did not return to school so he wouldn't run into Mr. Camara. When asked what [the student] thought would happen if he ran into Mr. Camara at school he replied, 'It would just be awkward and I don't wanna put myself in that situation.'"
The teen transferred to Florida Virtual School, which offers classes online, he told investigators. He kept quiet about the text messages until he saw Camara's arrest on the news, he told investigators.
In a separate matter, the Broward Sheriff's Office also confirmed in April that it's investigating a complaint from Camara's former roommate accusing Camara of fraudulently using his name for unauthorized payments from the debate booster club's PayPal account. No charge has resulted from that complaint.
The Broward State Attorney's Office is pursuing the fraud charges against Camara involving the catering issue. The office has not received any other cases to consider, spokeswoman Paula McMahon told the Sun Sentinel.