Published: September 29, 2008 10:39 pm      

Professor, school teacher arrested in sex abuse case

EDMOND — A Langston professor and a Jones Public Schools employee have been arrested in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of an Edmond teenage girl.

Reza Ross Pourdavood, 53, and Leah Pourdavood, 40, both of Edmond, were arrested Thursday by Edmond Police, according to a police report. Reza Pourdavood was arrested on seven complaints of child sexual abuse. Leah Pourdavood was arrested on one complaint of enabling child abuse.

Both are being held on $70,000 bond each and both were taken to the Oklahoma County Jail. Charges have not been accepted on either Reza Pourdavood or Leah Pourdavood, according to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office on Monday.

Langston spokeswoman Ashley Gibson said Reza Pourdavood was fully employed by the university, which is investigating the allegations.

Jones Public Schools Superintendent Mike Steele confirmed that Leah Pourdavood is a pre-kindergarten teacher at Jones Elementary.

“We are currently doing an investigation and she will not be in the classroom until and unless this matter is resolved,” Steele said.

A phone call made Monday morning to the Pourdavoods’ Edmond home was not immediately returned. In the U.S. legal system, individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

According to the police report, the victim went to her high school counselor and asked questions about how to deal with people “getting in her face and yelling.”

The counselor told the victim about how there are different types of abuse and that she could help if the victim would tell her what the problem was. According to the police report, the victim told the counselor the abuse was “something small but it’s been a lot worse in the past.”

The Department of Human Services has been notified about the abuse, police said.