SANTA CRUZ (NM)
Santa Fe New Mexican [Santa Fe NM]
July 3, 2026
By Phaedra Haywood
A former teacher at the soon-to-be defunct Holy Cross Catholic School in Santa Cruz pleaded guilty to reduced charges Thursday, admitting he sexually assaulted one of his students in 2021.
Calvin Robinson, 44, of Española, was initially charged with seven counts, including criminal sexual penetration, four counts of criminal sexual contact and enticement of a child. Together, those charges exposed him to decades in prison.
As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty in state District Court in Santa Fe to one count of second-degree criminal sexual contact and one of third-degree criminal sexual contact as part of plea deal with prosecutors.
If sentenced concurrently, the counts could have exposed Robinson to up to 15 years in prison. However, state District Judge Jason Lidyard suspended all but 31⁄2 years Thursday, per Robinson’s plea deal. After receiving credit for approximately three years spent on house arrest while the case was pending, Robinson will avoid going to state prison at all and will instead spend about three months in county jail.
Robinson will also have to serve an indefinite period of supervised probation — between five and 20 years — upon release. The suspended time could be imposed if he violates the terms of that probation in the future.
According to a 2023 arrest warrant affidavit against Robinson, the girl told a New Mexico State Police investigator the sexual abuse began after Robinson, her teacher at the school near Española, asked if she could keep a secret. He would write her notes during class, asking if she had ever done anything with a “guy,” according to the affidavit.
Robinson eventually started touching her in the basement of the Holy Cross gymnasium while the class would retrieve books, she told investigators, adding the abuse progressed. The child was 13 years old at the time of the abuse, according to court records.
‘False starts’
Prosecutor Haley Murphy told the court Thursday the state’s deal with Robinson represented a “hard negotiated agreement” due to several factors, including a “very traumatized little girl” whose “very hard life” had made her an easy target for abuse.
The state consulted with the girl and her family regarding the plea, but the girl was not able to attend Thursday’s hearing, due in part to the plea hearing having been reset several times. The judge scheduled another hearing during which she’ll be allowed to address the court.
The plea had several “false starts,” as Murphy put it, leading up Thursday’s hearing. Robinson balked at accepting a substantially similar plea in May after learning it would prohibit him from living with any children under the age of 18, including his partner’s children.
That condition remains in the current plea with “zero tolerance” for transgressions, Murphy said Thursday.
Asked by the judge whether he cared to a make a statement, Robinson said: “I want to apologize to my family for putting them through this.”
“I guess I apologize to the victim also,” he added.
Robinson later repeated his apology to his family, saying he knew the prohibition on him having contact with minors was “putting us in a bad situation.”
Robinson was not taken into custody Thursday, as he is being given a week to put his affairs in order before turning himself in next week.
The Archdiocese of Santa Fe announced recently it will be closing the school — which has been in operation for more than 75 years — due to “declining enrollment and financial challenges.”