Alfredo Hernandez
By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com
A San Benito choir teacher has resigned after he was arrested on Friday for online solicitation of a minor, a charge stemming from accusations that the suspect attempted to lure a 12-year-old girl out of her parents’ house for a late night rendezvous at his apartment.
Officers with the Harlingen Police Department reported that 29-year-old Alfredo Hernandez of Brownsville, confirmed by San Benito CISD officials as a choir teacher at Berta Cabaza Middle School, was apprehended on the evening of October 12 at a location in which Hernandez allegedly instructed the minor to meet with him.
It all started when a 32-year-old female from Harlingen informed police that Hernandez had allegedly contacted her 12-year-old daughter on Facebook, “and had suggested that she sneak out of the house, leave the parents, and meet with him,” HPD Sergeant John Parish said in a press release. “According to the reporting person, the adult male advised that he would pick her (12-year-old female) up and take her to his apartment.”
Parish further reported that Hernandez allegedly identified himself as “Freddy Love” and “mentioned illicit sexual conduct.”
Police also accuse Hernandez of agreeing to meet the minor in the Walmart parking lot in Harlingen just behind Payless. “The adult male advised that he would be driving a black Chevrolet passenger vehicle,” Parish said in the press release. “The reporting person then notified the Harlingen Police Department of the meeting time and place.”
Hernandez was allegedly found by unmarked and marked HPD units at the aforementioned meeting point and arrested. He was charged with online solicitation of a minor, a second degree felony.
San Benito CISD Superintendent of Schools Antonio G. Limón said Hernandez resigned at 11:22 a.m. today. “We will report him to the State Board of Educator Certification [and explain] that he resigned after he was arrested,” Limón said.
The following is a statement released by school district officials today: “San Benito CISD school leaders have been made aware of an incident involving Alfredo Hernandez, a former teacher who (was) arrested this past weekend by the Harlingen Police Department. The teacher in question has resigned — effective immediately — and is no longer employed with the district. The teacher had been employed with the district for six years. San Benito CISD school officials have taken the necessary measures in regards to notifying Texas Education Agency’s State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) about the teacher’s alleged incident.”
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3 comments
@Rick: The SBCISD DOES do background checks and this guy had a clean record; otherwise, they wouldn’t have hired him.
@Emily: The majority of the time, a sexual predator is someone that is close to you in some form. example: family, family friends, and in this case, it is sad to say that it was a teacher.
It’s scary to know he would do something like that, especially because I’m one of his choir students. He seemed like a nice teacher that we all trusted and it’s just shocking to all of us. I’ve worked with him for the past 3 years and he NEVER approched any of us that way…
The SBCISD needs to do background checks when the someone is being interviewed for employment with the school district so none of the kids aren’t being tought by predatos