Powell Middle School teacher charged with battery
SPRING HILL – A Powell Middle School teacher awaiting a state hearing on further disciplines against his teaching license was arrested Thursday after allegedly using his car as a weapon and battering his ex-girlfriend.
Jesse T. Mockler, 36, was arrested last May for allegedly battering the same woman while she was driving, according to the sheriff’s office.
The woman was sitting in her car in her driveway Thursday on Glenbrook Avenue when Mockler drove his car into the back driver’s side of hers, damaging the bumper, the report said.
Mockler began to squeal his tires, an arrest report shows, and then got out of his car, approached his ex-girlfriend’s driver side window, and broke the mirror off the door.
The woman showed Mockler her phone through the closed car window that she had called 911.
Mockler then opened her door, grabbed her by the head, and pushed her back and forth, the report shows.
He then took the cellphone from her and walked away from her car. The report notes that the woman’s call log shows she did attempt to call 911.
Mockler then walked back to his ex-girlfriend’s car, reached inside and broke off her rear view mirror from the windshield. He got back in his car and left the area, the report shows.
The woman had a scratch on her neck, and three independent witnesses corroborated the above account.
When deputies made contact with Mockler at his Brooksville home, Mockler told them a taxi took him to and from the doctor’s office, and that he had been home since. However, Mockler was unable to explain why the hood of his vehicle was warm or who might have been driving it.
Mockler was arrested on two charges of burglary and one charge each of aggravated assault, obstruction of justice, and criminal mischief property damage. He is being held at the Hernando County Jail on $10,250 bond.
Mockler has been a social studies teacher at Powell since August 2005.
Mockler was arrested for battery May 6, 2012, according to the sheriff’s office. Criminal charges were later dropped.
Assistant State Attorney Sonny McCathran said at the time that the domestic battery charge was dropped against Mockler at the request of his girlfriend.
Mockler was also arrested in 2007 on DUI and two drug-related counts. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving and served a three-month suspension from the school district.
Mockler was again arrested in February on charges of DUI and refusing to submit to a sobriety test as a prior offender.
The Hernando County School Board voted this month to refer the decision to the state on whether action should be taken against Mockler’s license after an internal investigation alleged Mockler falsified his teaching certificate renewal application, potentially provided a false written statement knowingly and failed to report a criminal conviction to the Florida Department of Education.
Prior to that vote, school Superintendent Lori Romano recommended the board fire Mockler from his teaching position.
Romano amended that request after Mockler’s attorney submitted an appeal to the district. Romano then recommended the case be considered by the Division of Administrative Hearings, or DOAH, which provides dispute resolution to Florida governmental entities.
As of this month, Mockler is suspended without pay.
