Sealed Cases Don’t Show Up In Background Checks, Las Cruces DA Says

He allegedly wouldn’t leave his ex alone – now a Chaparral High School teacher is serving serious detention.

Students will not find Samuel Mario Lara inside a classroom anytime soon.

This is not Lara’s first brush with the law. As ABC-7 reported, Lara was convicted of murder as a teenager.

But even with a murder conviction, officials say, it is possible the Gadsden Independent School District had no idea of his record.

“Anyone who has a sealed juvenile record, no one has access to that unless you have a court order to have it unsealed,” Susana Martinez, District Attorney, said. “And certainly if a school district has an interest to know what that was about, they could have moved for it to be unsealed.”

Lara, 31, taught special education at Chaparral High for the past 3 years.

As ABC-7 reported, Lara was convicted of murder in 1995, after he stabbed and killed his own father.

New Mexico State law requires background checks for all teachers.

But District Attorney Susana Martinez says, because Lara’s case was sealed, his conviction would likely not show up in a background check. And no one is allowed access to the case file.

However, in 2003, police arrested Lara for battery on a household member, and breaking and entering.

Documents show Lara was granted a deferred sentence – meaning he completed probation, and the case was dismissed.

A motion to dismiss the case may have provided Lara the second chance he needed to help him obtain his teaching license with the Gadsden Independent School District.

Because the case was dismissed, Lara had no obligation to say he has ever been convicted of the offense.

When it comes to background checks from schools, dismissed cases do not count as convictions.

His teaching license is now in the hands of the State.

“And then based on that investigation we do a notice of contemplative action, Beverly Friedman, Public Education Department Spokesperson, said. “If there are findings, a hearing officer makes a recommendation to Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia, and then she would make a decision in the case.”

Officials with the Gadsden Independent School District have not returned any calls to ABC-7 for comment.

It is unclear what information the District learned of through Lara’s background check, or if the District knew about Lara’s past and simply overlooked it.

But District Officials told ABC-7 Wednesday, Lara passed his background check to teach at Chaparral High.

Lara is being held at Dona Ana County Detention Center on $50,000 cash bond.