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Police Claim East Harlem Gym Teacher Sexually Abused Students

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police were searching late Tuesday for a charter school teacher who is accused of sexual misconduct with students in East Harlem.

Police said the 32-year-old gym teacher at Harlem Prep Middle School, 232 E 103rd St., coerced two 14-year-old girls into groping him.

The alleged incidents happened inside the school, sources said.

"I think he should be caught and prosecuted, if that's true. A man and children -- my daughter's at risk, then," one father told CBS2's Dave Carlin. "You never know how he's looking at these kids."

The teenage girls also reportedly had explicit pictures of the teacher.

Students on Tuesday were sent home with letters to their parents about the incidents. The letter said a student told a social worker about "an incident involving the gym teacher," and the social worker told the executive director who called police.

The teacher has been fired, the school said.

The search for the teacher continued late Tuesday night.

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