DISD Teacher Accused Of Sexually Abusing Child
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A man in charge of little children now stands accused of assaulting one. Jorge Ruiz has been a teacher at Kramer Elementary School in the Dallas Independent School District for the past decade. The 53-year-old man now faces at least two felony charges.
Ruiz was arrested on Wednesday for the "continuous sexual abuse of a young child," police said. Investigators are looking into the possibility of additional victims.
The abuse dates back to eight years ago, when the first-grade victim was just 6 years old. According to the arrest affidavit, that child was a former Kramer Elementary School student. The alleged abuse took place in a classroom while other children were playing at recess.
The arrest affidavit stated that Ruiz would tell the young girl that there was a bunny in his pocket, tricking her into putting her hand in his pants.
During their investigation, police stated that a second victim came forward. And there could still be others. The second charge against Ruiz is for indecency.
Ruiz has been teaching pre-kindergarten classes up until this week. He is now in jail with a $200,000 bail for both offenses.
The teacher had a good reputation around the campus. "He was a good person, a good teacher. I like him. I don't know. I don't understand," said parent Ruth Rodriguez.
Suini Ramos was devastated when she first heard about Ruiz's arrest on the news. The suspect taught her daughter two years ago. The little girl assured that she saw nothing inappropriate. "My daughter, she's crying. She can't stop crying," Ramos said on Thursday morning. "I'm sad because, seriously, we had him like a hero."
The school sent parents a vague letter explaining that "our Pre-K teacher has been away from their duties and placed on leave to attend to a personal matter." There was no mention of the charges, and parents were shocked to discover what was actually happening.
A subsequent letter called for three meetings on Thursday -- one for parents whose kids have been in Ruiz's class in the past, a second meeting for parents who have kids in Ruiz's class now, and a final meeting for anybody else who is concerned. Campus and district officials are expected to be on hand at all meetings.
While some parents have been upset with how school officials handled this situation, Ramos is happy with the actions that are being taken. Within two hours of the information being released, Ramos said that the school began reaching out to her. "I had received three calls from the school last evening," she said, "and I got emails too from the teachers."
Sanjay Dharmapal is the father of a boy who goes to Kramer Elementary School. He plans to talk about the issue with his son's mother first. "We're going to discuss what the situation is," he said Wednesday. "We're going to try to look into it more. We're going to read the letter we just got and find out what's going on."
"The principal says, if we need to talk face-to-face and parent-to-parent, we can do it," Ramos added.
There is also a 6:00 p.m. meeting planned at the elementary school on Thursday night that was supposed to focus on Hispanic Heritage Month. Officials have not yet said how much of the focus will now shift to the allegations being made against Ruiz.