A California Teacher of the Year finalist has been arrested for trying to pay for sexual acts with an undercover cop posing as a 13-year-old boy.
Ruben Guzman, an assistant principal and math teacher at Sunrise Middle School in San Jose, was snared when he organized for them to meet up last week.
The 31-year-old, who was also recognized by the San Francisco 49ers for his work in the classroom, was cuffed by San Jose police and the FBI on the scene.
It came as part of a wider bust that saw 10 others across the region caught over alleged child exploitation crimes on the internet.
Guzman’s arrest shocked the school district, with principal Teresa Robinson saying there were no signs at work of his alleged crimes.
She told ABC7: “While this is deeply upsetting, it does not reflect who we are as a school. He was a highly regarded teacher and administrator.
“Again, there was nothing in his work record or his prior work record, said other schools to indicate anything had any problems with his work.”
Amid fears there could be victims at the school, Robinson added: “We are very, very glad that it did not happen to the best of our knowledge, to anybody at our school, that safety will continue to be our top priority.”
Guzman had been lauded for his work at the middle school over the last six years, including the finalist for Teacher of the Year and a recognition from the 49ers.
SJPD spokeswoman Stacie Shih said: “These chat operations specifically were conducted by undercover officers.
“With these operations specifically, we were able to apprehend the offenders before any child was harmed.”