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| Story updated (Friday, October 30, 2009, 4:31 p.m.) UPDATED: Teacher's Bond Continued at $25,000 |
Friday, October 30, 2009
Teacher: 'It Was What He Wanted'
By Andrea Schoellkopf
Journal Staff Writer
A Jimmy Carter Middle School teacher charged with three counts of criminal sexual penetration involving a 13-year-old male student said their first encounter took place in the back seat of her Ford Explorer where they watched the movie "Transformers."
A criminal complaint said Kristy Sanchez-Trujillo admitted having two sexual encounters with the student, twice taking him to a movie and having sex with him afterward at Petroglyph National Monument.The complaint said she dropped him off at 5 a.m. after the first tryst.
Arrest warrant (PDF)
The 33-year-old social studies teacher was arrested Wednesday after admitting to police that she had sex with the seventh-grader, who was in one of her classes.
She is charged with three counts of criminal sexual penetration and faces up to six years in prison. On Thursday, she was out of the Metropolitan Detention Center on a $25,000 bond.
Even before she was charged, the district had fired her from the West Side school.
In her statement to police, Sanchez-Trujillo said she took the boy to a movie at the Cottonwood Mall theater last weekend but he didn't want to go home afterward.
Parking at the Petroglyph National Monument, the two watched the second "Transformers" movie on a video player in the back seat and began to kiss and fondle each other. That led to sex, according to the complaint.
"Transformers" is a sci-fi scenario in which giant, shape-shifting robots from outer space do battle on Earth. It features good and evil transformers, along with teen heartthrobs Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox.
The recently divorced woman, who also teaches dance, described the student as a "25-year-old in a 13-year-old body" and said he was "more experienced" sexually than any man she had ever been with. She described their encounters as "loving" and "caring."
Sanchez-Trujillo said that, after their sexual encounter, she asked the boy whether he would get in trouble, but "he told her his parents didn't care what he was out doing, and he would come and go all the time," the complaint said.
"Sanchez-Trujillo said she asked (the boy) if he was sure that was what he wanted because she was 33 and he was only 13." The boy told her "it was what he wanted," the complaint said .
She took him home about 5 a.m.
On Tuesday, she picked him up and took him to a 10 p.m. movie at Century 24 theaters. "After the movie, (the boy) wanted to go to the petroglyphs ... which he referred to as 'our spot,' " the complaint said.
They had sex again, and she dropped him off at home around 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Fearful that the boy's older brother had seen them together at the movie, the single mother of three sought help from a colleague at school, who promptly reported it to the principal. Sanchez-Trujillo was placed on leave Wednesday and, within hours, was fired.
APS spokeswoman Monica Armenta said the district has notified the Public Education Department for possible revocation of Sanchez-Trujillo's professional license.
Parents waiting for their kids after school Thursday were fearful and upset about the incident.
'I'd want justice'
"I was sick to my stomach," said Elaine Rivera, whose daughter, Alisa Lucero, was in Sanchez-Trujillo's first-period class. "(Alisa) said she was a really good teacher. I don't understand what went wrong."
Rivera said she hoped the teacher would not receive leniency because it involved a female teacher with a teenage boy. "I know if it was a male teacher doing that to my daughter, I'd want justice," said Rivera, who also has three sons.
Alisa, who was in Sanchez-Trujillo's class Wednesday before police arrived at the school to question her, said the news surprised and upset her. "It was a little hard," she said of class Thursday with a substitute. "Social studies isn't going to be the same."
Eighth-grader Judith Castañeda said "everybody" was talking about the arrest at school, and she saw several students leaving classes to talk with counselors in the library.
"Some say the boy is lying. Some say it's probably true," said Judith, 13. "People are trying to guess who it is."
School Principal Rita Martinez sent letters home to parents Thursday notifying them of the teacher's removal and about a meeting for parents at 6 p.m. today at the school library.
Petite dancer
At 4-foot-11, Sanchez-Trujillo wasn't much taller than many of the students she taught, according to information from her arrest report and from students.
A 1994 West Mesa graduate with a master's in education, she listed on her Facebook page "being with my children" and "actually hanging out with adults" as among her interests.
She has taught children's dance at a West Side studio for the past 11 years, and, according to Facebook, took a group to Las Vegas, Nev., in July for a competition.
Her father, Cris Sanchez, listed her among his five children on his Web site for his 2010 campaign for Bernalillo County sheriff.
Her favorite movies according to her Facebook page: "Grease," "Dirty Dancing" and "Transformers I and II."
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