South Valley charter school leader facing charges of threatening student with box cutter

The leader of a South Valley charter school is facing felony charges after allegedly putting a box cutter to a student’s neck last month.

Richard Perea, identified as the educational director of South Valley Academy in a criminal complaint filed Wednesday, is charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault and child abuse after allegedly using a box cutter to threaten a teenager on April 18 after the student was suspected of vaping in a bathroom.

On the same day the criminal complaint was filed, the school’s governing council was set to discuss and vote on whether to reinstate the school’s executive director. The outcome of that vote is not yet clear.

A warrant has been issued for Perea’s arrest, according to court records, though Metropolitan Detention Center records did not show that he had been booked as of late Thursday afternoon.

It’s also not clear if Perea, 58, yet has an attorney. A call made to the phone of “Rich Perea,” who identified himself as the executive director of the school, went directly to voicemail.

According to a complaint filed in Metropolitan Court:

On April 18, a 17-year-old student was on his way to fourth period when he stopped in the bathroom. While there, he was told by a security officer to report to the educational director’s office. The officer escorted him there.

When they arrived, they joined another security officer. The student was told he was suspected of vaping in the bathroom against school policy, and he was searched.

While officials did not turn up a vape, they did find a box cutter, which the student said he had as part of a school service learning program that allowed him to work off campus at a ranch.

Perea picked up the box cutter, opened it and told the student to stand up.

As the student did, according to the complaint, he said Perea walked up to him, held the blade close to his neck and said, “boom jugular vein.”

The student said Perea then told him to turn around. When the student reluctantly did, Perea allegedly wrapped an arm around his neck and put the box cutter blade against his neck and “(slid) it from one side to the other,” with the student saying the blade actually touched his neck.

Both the security guards more or less corroborated the story with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, with one saying Perea told the student, “Stand up ... I’m gonna show you what a Chicano man does.”