An East Valley substitute teacher is locked up tonight facing 3 counts of indecent exposure after allegedly exposing himself to minors in a Gilbert neighborhood.
Court documents show he admitted to doing it at least 20 times in at least 16 different locations.
Police arrested 22-year old Andrew Lemke at his home last night. Parents in the Gilbert neighborhood are disgusted.
"It's surprising, it's not a good thing," said Eric LeBlanc who lives in the Coronado Ranch where Lemke allegedly exposed himself to kids. "Very unfortunate, I mean I probably would have tackled him."
And then to hear Lemke served as a substitute teacher at several east valley schools?
"I'm guessing nothing showed up on a background check?" he said.
Off camera, one parent told me at least one of the minors attends Coronado Elementary School.
One victim told police he flashed her and then told her to "come here." When she didn't, he yelled profanities at her.
According to court documents, another victim watched Lemke pull down his shorts and his underwear while facing two elementary school aged girls.
"We did hear that he was at a park nearby and so it could have been any children that he was exposing himself to," said Michelle Miller who lives across the street from the school.
"You don't want your children running around out here and some man is accosting them," said Miller. "It's a good reason to keep an eye on your children and be with your children. He's a substitute teacher for crying out loud. What else did he do?"
Court documents state when police showed up at his house to make an arrest, his mother answered the door. Lemke came to the door and told police he's the one and he did it. He also said he wanted to kill himself because the guilt from what he did was killing him.
When police walked in, they could smell burnt human hair and learned Lemke tried to harm himself by lighting his hair on fire before they arrived.
Documents state Lemke told police he pulled down his shorts in front of three kids that were riding bikes near an elementary school as a prank to scare the kids.
In an interview with an officer Lemke said there were 20 incidents that he pulled off his shorts in the neighborhood in front of young kids.
He showed the officer 16 places where he did it. He told the officer he's been exposing himself in public for the past two years.
I knocked on the door of his house, but didn't get an answer from his parents.
"Just happy police are taking it in to their hands. Hopefully he won't be doing it again," said LeBlan
Gilbert police say Lemke was a substitute teacher with several east valley school districts. He has since been dismissed.
The Higley Unified School District found out this yesterday and notified parents in a letter.
The district immediately removed Lemke as an approved substitute teacher.
Court paperwork shows he's employed at Chandler Unified School District.
We are reaching out to that district and to Gilbert Public Schools to see if they have any comments.
A Mesa Unified School District spokesperson says Lemke was not listed as a substitute in their district.
If you have any information about these incidents, contact Gilbert Police.
