Fairfield police responded to Creekside Middle School at about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday on the report a teacher was performing a sex act on himself.
READ MORE: Substitute teacher accused of performing sex act on himself in classroom
A student recorded the activity, according to the report. That video showed the teacher doing the act “while sitting behind the teacher’s desk at the front of the room and looking at his cell phone. The classroom was full of middle school students at the time.”
Abraham told police he was looking at explicit photos on his phone and that he “fondled himself four or five times over the course of an hour,” the report said. He said he was never exposed, according to the report.
The Ohio Department of Education renewed Abraham’s substitute teaching license in June, according to documents obtained through a public records request by the Journal-News.
He has taught at dozens of school buildings – in a wide variety of grades - in Butler and Warren counties since he first worked as a substitute instruction in 2011.
Abraham’s personnel file, which is kept by the Warren County Educational Service Center, contained no complaints regarding his work in schools.
According to Abraham’s records, in the last year he has worked for more than a dozen schools in the two counties, with most of his substitute teaching taking place in Butler County schools.
Besides Fairfield Schools, he also taught in Lakota, Hamilton, Edgewood, Monroe, Middletown and Butler Tech classrooms in the last year.
In Warren County during the same period he filled in for full-time teachers in Springboro and Little Miami Schools.
Most of his teaching in 2018 was done Lakota Schools and Fairfield Schools, according to records.
Lakota officials said they have no records of any complaints against Abraham.
INITIAL REPORT, 6:30 a.m., Jan. 9
A Fairfield Schools substitute teacher charged with committing a sex act on himself in class had passed all criminal background checks as part of his employment and has worked in other area districts since first being hired in 2012, county school officials said.
Tracey J. Abraham, of Cincinnati, was charged with public indecency Tuesday by Fairfield police. The charge is a first-degree misdemeanor.
Police said students were present in Abraham’s classroom at Fairfield’s Creekside Middle School at the time of the alleged act.
Chris Brown, superintendent of the Butler County Educational Services Center (BCESC) - the organization that handles the hiring and scheduling of substitute teachers in Butler County school systems - told the Journal-News Abraham had passed Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) background checks when hired in 2012.
“He also went through a background check in 2017 and there has been nothing in his background,” said Brown.
Brown said Abraham has also worked as a substitute teacher in other Butler and Warren County school systems.
Lakota School officials said Abraham has on occasion worked as a substitute teacher in some of its schools but they have no record of any complaints against him.