A Deerfield High School teacher and sports coach has been charged after officials say he inappropriately touched a juvenile student at the school multiple times.
Riaz Hoveydai, 34, of Vernon Hills, was initially charged in late June with one count of battery, a Class A misdemeanor, and one count of disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office upgraded the case and charged Hoveydai last month with three counts of aggravated battery in a public place, a Class 3 felony.
Prosecutors said the Deerfield Police Department first began investigating after receiving a report regarding Hoveydai in May.
The victim, a student, reported that Hoveydai, a teacher, had inappropriately touched them on multiple occasions.
The child also reported that Hoveydai made inappropriate comments about their appearance, prosecutors said. The incidents occurred at school.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Dino Katris said Hoveydai was a teacher at Deerfield High School.
Katris said Hoveydai touched the student’s thighs, buttocks and genitalia.
Attorney Vanessa Sheehan, who is representing the man, said that the allegation was untrue and that prosecutors listed in their charging document that Hoveydai was alleged to have touched the student’s “waist, hand and buttocks.”
Sheehan said there were other minors who were alleged witnesses to the offenses.
Hoveydai, who is a father of two children, is no longer a teacher at Deerfield High School.
Hoveydai was also the assistant coach for the JV boys tennis team at the school.
Hoveydai, who previously worked for the Vernon Hills High School, was officially no longer an employee at Deerfield High School as of May 20.
Sheehan said the man’s wife is a teacher at Deerfield High School and asked the court to allow him to still go to the school to pick up and drop off their children, who attend the daycare facility at the high school.
Following the charges against Hoveydai, Lake and McHenry County Scanner filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Deerfield Police Department seeking copies of all police reports in the case.
The police department refused to release police reports containing any details or summary regarding the case.
The department cited the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act and the Privacy of Child Victims of Criminal Sexual Offenses Act as reasons for withholding the reports under FOIA. It also argued that information disclosed “may unavoidably identify a witness or other confidential source.”
Lake and McHenry County Scanner has again requested that the department release the reports, arguing that the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act does not apply in this case.
An appeal seeking the Illinois Attorney General’s Office to intervene in the matter is anticipated.
Hoveydai was released after being charged with the misdemeanors in late June after being processed at the Deerfield Police Department.
After the charges were upgraded to felonies, he was again released with pre-trial conditions following a First Appearance Court hearing.
He is scheduled to appear in court again on October 28 for a status of preliminary hearing.