A tip to police and a series of racy emails helped land former Rio Rancho teacher Brenda Ray in jail on three counts of criminal sexual penetration for her alleged involvement with a 16-year-old student, which continued for several years.
Ray, 40, was a teacher at Rio Rancho High during the 2007-08 school year when the “relationship” began with one of her male students, a then-16-year-old junior, according to court records.
Ray could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Ray
She is charged with three counts of sexual penetration and three counts of selling or giving alcoholic beverages to a minor. The alcohol charges stem from at least two incidents in 2009, when Ray and her former student – then a college freshman – allegedly drank and took drugs together, according to a criminal complaint.
The two were exchanging emails until May, according to police spokesman Lt. Paul Rogers and the criminal complaint.
Kim Vesely, spokeswoman for Rio Rancho Public Schools, said Ray resigned in May from her teaching position at Cleveland High. She said the district at the time was not aware of the allegations.
Vesely said Ray had worked for the district since 1998, moving from Rio Rancho High to Cleveland in September 2009. The school’s website said she taught English there.
A criminal complaint said the first incident occurred in December 2007, when Ray and the student drove in Ray’s vehicle to a secluded area, where she performed a sexual act on him. The second incident took place at Haynes Park and a third at the home of the student.
Beginning in December 2009, Ray is alleged to have sent emails to him, in which she recalled their encounters and talked about “sex in the hall” and the “crime committed.” There were 47 emails, with the last one sent May 9 of this year.
The emails also referred to drug use. The criminal complaint said the teen told police he drank alcohol, smoked marijuana and snorted cocaine with Ray after he graduated from high school. According to the criminal complaint, during his freshman year of college in 2009, the victim visited Ray and a friend at the Rio Rancho Inn, where they drank vodka and snorted cocaine.
The relationship at some point was discovered by Ray’s husband, according to court records.
Rogers said police began investigating Ray after someone who knows the victim came forward with a tip.
Ray bonded out of the Sandoval County Detention Center on Wednesday afternoon, according to staff at the jail.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal
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