A California Teacher of the Year finalist is facing serious charges after police say he tried to pay for sex with someone he believed was a 13-year-old boy, who was actually an undercover officer.
Ruben Guzman, a 31-year-old assistant principal and math teacher at Sunrise Middle School in San Jose, was arrested after allegedly arranging a meetup last week, according to authorities. San Jose police and the FBI reportedly took him into custody at the scene.
The case has sparked shock and anger in the community, especially because Guzman wasn’t just any educator. He had built a strong reputation at the school over the past six years and had even been recognized by the San Francisco 49ers for his work in the classroom. He was also named a finalist for California Teacher of the Year, making the allegations even more jarring for families and staff.
His arrest happened as part of a larger crackdown on alleged online child exploitation in the region. Officials say 10 other people were also arrested during the operation.
School leaders say the news blindsided them. Principal Teresa Robinson told ABC7 there were no warning signs in his professional record or behavior at school.
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.”
With concerns naturally rising about whether there could be victims connected to the school, Robinson said there is no indication that happened.
She 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.”
San Jose police spokeswoman Stacie Shih said the sting was designed to stop predators before any child could be harmed.
She 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.”