New details have emerged in the case against an employee at a San Antonio Catholic school. Now, investigators say the employee recorded at least three students changing in his office and a sexual encounter with another adult in the same space.
In the evening hours of October 2, around 8:30 p.m., a call was placed to the San Antonio Police Department from the address of Holy Cross of San Antonio – a Catholic school in San Antonio promoted on the Archdiocese of San Antonio’s website. Now, an SAPD spokesperson says the call was initiated after a fellow staffer – who shared an office with the 34-year-old employee – noticed a lens on an alarm clock on the man’s desk.
“The staff member also noticed an SD card on the back of the alarm clock. Upon further investigation, video footage from the SD card had recordings of at least three students changing clothes in the office and of the suspect having sexual intercourse with another adult,” a preliminary report provide to MySA from SAPD reads.
The video was reported to both school officials and the police department that day, and a letter was promptly released to parents of Holy Cross children the following morning, October 3, according to a KSAT 12 report. MySA reached out to Holy Cross of San Antonio officials several times for comment with no response.
It’s unclear what role this employee played on campus, though police confirmed there has been no arrest as of Monday afternoon, October 6. However, the letter to parents reportedly states the employee was fired.
“Parents of individual students that may have been impacted will be contacted individually by the school administration,” Holy Cross of San Antonio Principal Rene Escobedo said in the letter, according to KSAT.
MySA reached out to the Archdiocese of San Antonio for comment, as its the highest-ranking Catholic agency in San Antonio and often tasked with leading investigations into complaints among the church in the Alamo City. However, the Archdiocese’s communications director pointed elsewhere for comment.
“As Holy Cross School of San Antonio is a private Catholic school in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, any comment regarding this matter should come from the school itself or the Congregation of the Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers, which is the religious order which founded and still administers the school,” the communications director told MySA.
MySA promptly emailed the Congregation of the Holy Cross, but did not hear back by publication time. MySA also contacted the Texas Education Agency to confirm whether or not a report was made against any certified teachers at Holy Cross of San Antonio. No records were immediately available before publication, though a spokesperson said work is being done to see if a report has come in.
Private schools in Texas aren’t required to hire state-certified teachers in the same public school and districts are, further limiting access to investigations into these kinds of incidents. However, Senate Bill 571, signed into Texas law by Gov. Greg Abbott in June, requires even private schools to report employee misconduct to the TEA if the complaint is against a certified teacher.
This isn’t the first time this same Catholic school has been embroiled in controversy over sexually charged allegations against an employee. Back in 2018, a girls’ volleyball coach, Ruben Calderon, was placed on administrative leave, and promptly resigned, after several sexual misconduct allegations surfaced from former students at Providence Catholic School – another San Antonio campus.