Safe2Tell report led to Douglas County middle school teacher's sex assault arrest: Affidavit
DENVER (KDVR) — A sixth-grade student's Safe2Tell report about a teacher's alleged inappropriate relationships with students at least three years ago led to an investigation and ultimately the arrest of a Douglas County middle school teacher this week.
David Feil, 49, of Littleton, was arrested Tuesday by detectives with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office Special Victims Unit on two counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust.
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Feil was hired by the Douglas County School District in 2014 and taught at Roxborough Intermediate School. Prior to becoming a teacher, Feil was an educational assistant for special needs students.
On Thursday, FOX31 obtained a redacted affidavit for Feil's arrest, which described how a deputy learned on March 18 of an investigation into Feil by the Douglas County School District Human Resources director after the teacher allegedly had an inappropriate relationship with his students 'a few years ago.'
On March 12, the district received a Safe2Tell tip. This tip has been redacted to protect individuals' identities:
' … Mr. Fiel or Dave Fiel, he is extremely inapropriate with the (redacted) and last year the (redacted) called him Mr Fiel the pedofiel. He has many boys added on video games and has girls social media added and scendsthem inapropriet videos on snapchat. Another (redacted) that was in his class in 2022 said he was assepecially inapropriate with (redacted) friend (redacted). Mr Fiel sent a video of him flipping off the camera and said just kidding and turned it into a heart without a shirt on. In another video he sent to the same (redacted) he blew a kiss towards the camera with a filter that has hearts all over his face. At spirit nights he hrld hands with (redacted) and I have a friend who was in his class last year always talked about how he had the sit in his lap while he played with their.'
The anonymous tipster told Safe2Tell, which reached out for further information, that someone had recently posted a video of Feil on Snapchat.
The human resource director spoke to a student about the video, who had been in one of Feil's classes. According to the affidavit, the student said they and two others were treated differently from others in their class and that the 49-year-old had spoken to the students about pornography, brought them gifts and added them on his Instagram and Snapchat accounts.
The minor told the human resource director that they still had direct messages on Instagram from Feil, starting in 2021. The juvenile also shared videos allegedly sent by Feil showing the teacher making kissing noises and using heart filters on his face while not wearing a shirt.
The human resource director, after learning these pieces of information, immediately placed Feil on leave from the school and initiated a Title 9 investigation.
The affidavit notes that the school district gave Feil a 'letter of direction' during the 2021-2022 school year, which the school principal told him to, quote, 'Do not follow children on any sort of social media platform.' She went on to describe his behavior as 'creeper vibes,' and appeared distraught over the situation.
Deputies continued investigating and learned on March 20 that a victim first met Feil while in the 3rd grade at after-hours guitar classes that Feil taught at the school. Then, Feil became the victim's teacher in 6th grade. The victim described how they believed that Feil's special treatment of them and their friends began at a music festival while the children were in the 6th grade, and said that Feil 'held my hand and gave me a piggyback ride' while they went to Safeway that day.
The victim went on to describe additional physical contacts with Feil, which included him leaving heart-shaped oranges on one student's desk, asking a trio of students talking about Naked Juice drinks if they 'Want to get naked?' and talking about how he learned about Playboy and watching pornography. Feil also allegedly rewarded students for good behavior by letting them sit on his lap. The victims told deputies that Feil would rub their thighs, buttocks and other inappropriate areas of their bodies.
Feil was interviewed by law enforcement on April 9. According to the affidavit, Feil said he had brought the students to Safeway in 2021 to try and win their favor and because he knew the children were not allowed to go without an adult chaperone. He said the school administration admonished him for the incident.
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Feil also told interviewers that since being placed on leave, he's been struggling to figure out what his boundary issue is. However, he denied communicating with any student outside the classroom and said he never gave his phone number to students. He said he was spoken to by human resources after he followed somebody on TikTok and commented on a video.
The affidavit quotes Feil as saying, 'So yeah, I gave hugs, I reciprocated hugs all the time. In my mind, not a big deal at the time.'
He denied having specific students sit on his lap during read-aloud, and said that 2021 was his 'boundaries' year. He also said his nicknames in the school are 'Dr. Phil, Mr. Fillet and Mr. Footlocker,' before pausing, then admitting a student once said his name was 'pedophile.'
At one point during his interview with police, the interviewers asked Feil if they could look through his Instagram messages. He asked to see them first and expressed 'concern for us taking the messages out of context and wondering if any of the messages would incriminate him in some way.'
He called his conversations with minors 'just stupid banter,' but admitted to police that boundaries were crossed and that he took personal relationships with certain students that year. According to the affidavit, the messages show that Feil 'acted in a grooming manner in effort to gain trust of these students and ultimately committed unspeakable acts for his own benefit.'
Feil was given a $50,000 cash or surety bond on May 13 and posted that bond on May 14. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 12.
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