Polk teacher arrested over altercation with teen over daughter

EAGLE LAKE (FOX 13) - A Bay Area father and teacher was arrested Thursday for allegedly threatening to kill a teenage boy who was fraternizing with his daughter.

Thomas Griffin is a teacher at Lake Region High School. Polk County deputies say he found out his daughter was not home at 3 a.m., so he checked the GPS location of her cell phone and discovered she was in the same area where he had dropped her off to visit friends a few weeks before.

Once he arrived at the home, he knocked on the door. A 17-year-old boy answered – that's when investigators say Griffin entered the home uninvited and began asking where his daughter was. She eventually came out and Griffin told his daughter to go to the car.

While still inside the house, detectives say, Griffin grabbed the teen by the throat, threw him on the couch and stated if he goes near his daughter again he would kill him. 

According to the sheriff's office, the teen's parents were home at the time of the incident. 

Griffin left the scene with his daughter and was later arrested. He was charged with one count of burglary with assault and one count criminal mischief.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office says Griffin has a criminal background, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery domestic violence and possession of marijuana. 

There's no word if Griffin is still employed by the school district.