My middle school German teacher just got arrested for masturbating to a guy at the gym

My middle school German teacher Mr. J, or Timothy Jankowiac, as he's now known by police and the broader public, has been arrested for allegedly masturbating to a guy at an LA Fitness in Troy.

Mr. J, now 48 and living in Berkley, is facing charges of aggravated indecent exposure for the Aug. 21 incident.

According to the Troy Police Department, it happened in the shower area in the men's locker room. A 35-year-old was using a shower with no curtain and looked over and saw Mr. J watching him and masturbating from a shower stall nearby. That stall's curtain was halfway open, police said.

The victim tried to confront Mr. J, but he hurried off, police said. The victim then followed him and confronted him in front of a witness.

The victim reported that the same thing had happened to him previously, but he was unable to identity the suspect at the time. Police say the shower curtains had previously been ripped out of the stalls by an unknown person.

Mr. J was most recently a teacher and the tennis coach at Royal Oak Middle School. When I had him, the school was called Addams. I don't remember there being a tennis team.

But the bad news doesn't stop at the alleged masturbation. The reason Mr. J is no longer employed at the school, the district's superintendent says, is because he resigned last April, as "the district was investigating a parent report that the teacher had been inappropriately sending text messages to a student."

"Safety is our number one priority at Royal Oak Schools, and we will not tolerate any inappropriate conduct, including through text messages or social media," SI Mary Beth Fitzpatrick says in an emailed statement. "All such reports will be investigated thoroughly."

A former classmate of mine, Vern Drouillard, says Mr. J always reminded him of the comedian Louis CK, and in the years that followed his time in Mr. J's class, "Any time I'd see Louis CK I'd be reminded of him."

"Apparently public jerkers are a type," Drouillard added wryly.

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