LCPS security guard accused of sexually assaulting teacher

A security guard hired by the Las Cruces Public Schools district is accused of sexually assaulting a teacher at a district campus.

Tom Trujillo, 59, is charged with two counts of Criminal Sexual Penetration by Force or Coercion, Bribery of a Witness, Kidnapping and Battery.

ABC-7 is not identifying the teacher or the name of the school in order to protect the victim’s identity.

Investigators learned Trujillo and the teacher had casual conversations at the beginning of the school year but did not know each other well.

On Sept. 26, 2017, Trujillo allegedly entered the teacher’s classroom, grabbed her arms and escorted her to an isolated part of the room.

The woman told police Trujillo wanted to “pat her down” in an isolation room in the corner of her classroom, according to court documents.

Trujillo is suspected of groping the teacher and restraining the woman in her classroom, police said. Trujillo, police said, sexually assaulted the teacher as she asked him to stop multiple times.

Before the bell rang, Trujillo allegedly told the teacher “you are gonna keep this quiet,” court documents state.

Las Cruces police investigators learned of the allegations on October 2, 2017.

In court documents, police say Trujillo admitted to groping the teacher, but he said it was “all mutual” and she “never said no.” He denied ever removing her pants or touching her vagina, contradicting her story.

Another teacher told police that the victim and Trujillo were acting unusually at school. She said Trujillo entered her classroom after she talked to the victim “and had never done that before.” That teacher told police Trujillo asked what her classroom was doing and she said “working.”

Trujillo was arrested Monday, Dec. 4, 2017 and booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center where he is initially being held without bond.