ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. –

A former Orange County Public Schools teacher is facing molestation charges, several years after he left his job.

Donald Sharp, 66, sits in jail without bail, accused of molesting one of his former students, and now police need to know if there are any other victims.

Apopka police said the crime happened six years ago when the girl was in Sharp's third-grade class at Apopka Elementary School. The victim came forward in May 2015.

"When someone's with you in a position of trust and violates you in that way, it can take quite a while to get the courage to come forward," said Apopka police Sgt. Ed Chittenden, who said the girl only revealed the abuse during counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder. "The allegations are that Mr. Sharp took her outside into a hallway that was during class time, and it was away from where people (were) and (he) placed his hands inside her pants and molested her."

Orange County schools had investigated the teacher before.

The same year the victim alleged the abuse took place, in 2009, OCPS investigated Sharp concerning allegations made by numerous other students, according to police. The children complained Sharp had them "sit on his lap" during class, the arrest report says.

OCPS told News 6 they alerted the Department of Children and Families on their hotline, which DCF at first denied.

Thursday, a DCF spokesperson said they found the records.

Kristi Gray said she could confirm someone called the DCF hotline to report an incident involving two other students of Sharps' in 2009.

However, she said the allegations did not "rise to the level" where an investigation was warranted.

She said they did not claim any sexual abuse, physical abuse or neglect, so the call was not acted on.

Apopka police were never contacted.

"No one had reported anything to us about the improper allegations through the school board," said Chittenden.

The school district closed its case and Sharp resigned that year after writing a letter to the district "regretting" what happened and taking "full responsibility." However, police said in that letter, Sharp downplayed what happened and now he denies the new allegations, but is not cooperating with the investigation.

