MILWAUKEE — A former Salam School teacher is out on bond after being charged with several felonies, including sexual assault of a student by school staff and repeated sexual assault of a child.
According to the criminal complaint, the student was 14 years old when the abuse began in 2012. Mahmoud Saed was 24 at the time.
The now 29-year-old told investigators Saed became "increasingly touchy" with her and began buying her expensive gifts, including a cellphone so he could contact her and keep track of her whereabouts. The criminal complaint also describes several instances of sexual contact.
TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins went to Saed's home Monday to see if he wanted to respond. He did not answer.
Watch: Former Salam School teacher charged with sexually assaulting student
The former student also said her mother — who is not being named to protect the identity of the victim — "was not only aware of the situation, but actively encouraged" Saed to pursue the relationship with her daughter, with the intention of a marriage on the girl's 18th birthday. That woman is now charged with a felony count of failure to protect a child. Jenkins went to her home Monday as well, but no one answered.
Now, 14 years later, the young woman is out of the house and sharing her story.
TMJ4 News spoke with Samantha Collier, executive director of Team Teal 365 Inc., an organization that advocates for sexual assault survivors.
"One of the biggest questions we need to know is why did it take 14 years for a survivor to feel safe enough?" Collier said.
Collier said 1 in 5 women experience sexual assault, and 93% know their abusers. She said the power dynamic between a teacher and student can make it especially difficult for victims to speak out.
"Someone so authoritative as a teacher, we must understand how that power and control dynamic is in that from the beginning," Collier said.
"We need to do a deeper dive into those that are assaulting, and those that are in power, where power and control dynamics come up, and victims don't feel safe enough to say anything because individuals are controlling either their grade, their home or their community," Collier said.
According to the criminal complaint, the abuse stopped in 2015 when Saed's father ended the relationship. Saed then resigned from his position at Salam School and opened the restaurant Shawarma House with his brother.
Salam School Advisory Committee issued the following statement after this story aired:
"Salam School has been made aware of very serious and sensitive allegations regarding a teacher who left the employment of the school more than a decade ago. The individual who accused the former employee of illegal acts has also (according to the criminal complaint) accused her mother of being aware of and even being involved with and encouraging the illegal conduct.
We adhere to the principle that the accused (the former teacher and the alleged victim’s mother) are presumed innocent until they can be proven guilty in a court of law. Regarding the alleged victim/accuser, we cannot ignore or reject her accusations until the court fully investigates the accusations and renders its verdict. If requested, we will assist her and her family in any way we can.
Neither ISM nor Salam School leadership were ever made aware of the allegations at the time they allegedly occurred, nor at any point since. We will cooperate with law enforcement in their investigation of these claims.
We maintain multiple layers of protective measures in our organization and our school so that our children are always protected. Our school and organization have a zero-tolerance policy regarding ANY relationship between staff and students, regardless of the age of the students.
We take this issue very, very seriously because our utmost priority is our children’s safety and well-being."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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