MIAMI, Fla. – A family is suing a Miami-Dade County private school after a campus security guard was charged with sexually assaulting a newly enrolled student.
The lawsuit centers on Slyvester Lee James, 24, who worked as a guard at My Life My Power Alpha International Preparatory Academy. Attorneys for the victim say James groomed the minor shortly after she started classes in January 2026, even though other students had warned her to stay away from him.
“This case represented a catastrophic institutional failure to protect a vulnerable child, which enabled a predator to groom and manipulate a minor student on school grounds and then sexually assault her,” attorneys Justin B. Shapiro and Bernardo Pimentel II of Leesfield & Partners said.
The legal team claims James sent the girl inappropriate and sexually charged text messages to build a false sense of trust. On Feb. 8, he allegedly saw her talking with a male classmate and became jealous. Lawyers said he accused her of doing something wrong and insisted they meet in person to talk about it.
Manipulated by weeks of messages, the student agreed to meet James in his car outside her home that night. Once she was inside the vehicle, James allegedly began touching her. Realizing she was alone in the dark with an adult male who was upset with her, she feared for her safety and was coerced into performing oral sex.
Her family caught her sneaking back into the house, and she confessed to what had just happened. Her family immediately called the police.
James was initially charged in February with offenses against students by authority figures, a second-degree felony. In March, investigators amended the charge to a first-degree felony for unlawful sexual activity with a specified minor by an authority figure. His criminal proceedings are currently ongoing.
The student has not returned to the campus since the assault and now takes her classes online. Her attorneys noted she was recently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and is attending therapy to cope with the trauma.
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