Former associate superintendent to learn punishment after pleading guilty to child sex assault

A former associate superintendent with the Gadsden Independent School District is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor, online court records show.

A grand jury indicted Richard Chavez, 66, on six counts of second degree criminal sexual contact of a minor in May 2016. That same month, Chavez resigned his position as associate superintendent. He retired later that summer after 23 years with the district.

Court documents obtained by ABC-7 at the time stated Chavez sexually assaulted the girl over a period of years. The victim was 10 years old at the time of Chavez’s arrest.

Authorities said the sexual assaults did not happen on school grounds, but inside a recreational vehicle at Chavez’s home in Mesquite.

Court documents state the girl told a friend from school about the assault. She said that, on numerous occasions, Chavez would put his hands underneath her clothing and touch her inappropriately.

Chavez is scheduled to be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. on March 28, 2019 at the Third District Court in Las Cruces.