A southwest Utah high school teacher is facing sexual abuse charges after police said he fondled two girls and a woman at his apartment complex pool.

One of the victims identified 39-year-old John Robert James Cody on the Washington County School district faculty Web site, according to documents filed Wednesday in 5th District Court.

In June 2008, Cody allegedly grabbed a woman's breast and touched a girl underneath her bathing suit at the Coral Canyon clubhouse pool in Washington. They told police, but officers didn't identify Cody as a suspect. Then, in August, another girl reported that he had thrown her into the pool two times, touching her underneath her bathing suit each time.

She reported the incident to her mother in Oregon and later identified Cody through the school Web site. She also said he had a distinctive, colorful sun tattoo on his right arm. When officers reviewed the past cases they found the other two females also reported the same tattoo.

Cody, of Washington, teaches social studies at Pineview High School in St. George and has been employed by the Washington County School District for nine years, district officials said. He was placed on leave during the investigation.

Cody was charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a child, forcible sexual abuse and sexual battery.