Photo: California Teacher and 4 Students Arrested Over High School Hazing, Assault
Police in San Bernardino, California say a teacher and four summer school students have been arrested for their participation of a at least one incident of hazing.
Teacher Emmanuel De La Rosa allegedly knew students at AB Miller High School had assaulted fellow students during his summer class at the high school.
The 27-year-old masonry teacher was was charged with two felonies: false imprisonment and attempted sexual penetration by a foreign object, and two misdemeanors: child abuse and failure to report child abuse.
Police reports say De La Rosa not only knew about the abuse, but encouraged the behavior to maintain order in his classroom.
One of the victims told police he was held down by fellow students and had his pants pulled down as 18-year-old Fernando Salgado “attempted to penetrate him with a piece of steel rebar.”
A second victim came forward after the start of the investigation and reported a similar incident with four students, one of them Salgado who attempted to “force a wooden broom handle into [the victim’s] body.”
On Thursday, Salgado was arraigned and pled not guilty to charges of attempted sexual penetration with a foreign object and false imprisonment.
When he was ordered to remain in jail until July 9, both Salgado and others in the courtroom began to protest. As deputies attempted to escort the large handcuffed teen out of the room, he began to struggle, saying, “I want to go home so bad. Let go of me!”
De La Rosa had been a substitute teacher at the school until he was hired as a full-time teacher in 2009. He is currently on administration leave without pay and has been released from jail. He is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment on August 27.
The alleged attacks occurred earlier this month. The June 21 assault involved a 14-year-year victim, while the age of the victim in the June 14 alleged attack is unknown.
