NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal
By Mark Oswald / Journal Staff Writer
Thursday, February 4th, 2016
SANTA FE — An arrest warrant affidavit filed by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office this week stated that State Police may have known about alleged sexual abuse by a Santa Fe Catholic school teacher in 2012, and now State Police say they’re conducting an internal investigation as to why no charges were ever filed.
In another development, the Journal confirmed that after his initial arrest in January for alleged improper touching of a girl at Santo Niño Regional Catholic School, a judge gave teacher Aaron Dean Chavez permission to attend a pro football playoff game in Denver. But Chavez’s lawyer says Chavez didn’t go.
Chavez, 47, was arrested again by Santa Fe deputies Tuesday on four charges of sexual criminal contact of a minor after more four girls came forward and said Chavez sexually molested them at Santo Niño as far back as 2007. Chavez was initially arrested Jan. 20 for one count of sexual criminal contact of a minor after a 6-year-old female student told her parents that Chavez touched her private areas as he was tucking in her shirt during art class last month. He was released on bond and GPS monitoring a day after the first arrest.
An affidavit from the sheriff’s office says two 14-year-old girls alerted Santo Niño principal Theresa Vaisa in 2012 that Chavez touched their buttocks while he bounced them on his lap when they were in his first-grade class in 2007. State Police were also notified of those incidents, but charges were never brought and Chavez continued to work at the school. On Thursday, State Police Chief Pete Kassetas said in a statement that there is now an internal investigation into why no charges were filed and he says disciplinary action may be taken.
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