D.A. declines to file charges against teacher at Arroyo High School in El Monte

EL MONTE — Prosecutors have declined to file charges against an Arroyo High School teacher and coach who has on administrative leave during an investigation into allegations of inappropriate communication with a student, authorities confirmed Wednesday.
The teacher, whose name was not released, was placed on leave April 18, El Monte Union High School District Superintendent Nick Salerno said.
Both the EMUHSD and El Monte police were looking into allegations that the teacher and coach had been involved with inappropriate communication with a student, Salerno said. The alleged inappropriate communication involved, at least in part, text messages.
Few details about the ongoing investigation were available due to privacy laws pertaining to employee privacy, he said.
But police investigators last week presented their findings case to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, which rejected the case based on insufficient evidence, El Monte police Sgt. Roger Cobian said.
That decision effectively ended the police investigation into the teacher, the sergeant said.
An administrative investigation within the district was ongoing, Salerno said.
The teacher was placed on leave almost immediately after school officials learned of the allegation, Salerno said. “There was no lag time.”
The teacher, whom Salerno described as a longtime employee of the school, would not return to the classroom while the investigation continues, he added.
Arroyo High School parents were not notified of the situation because it remained in the investigative stage, the superintendent said.
Meanwhile, the trial is approaching for another EMHUSD teacher who is accused of carrying on an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old student.
El Monte police arrested 40-year-old Mountain View High School music teacher Abel Heriberto Acosta last month on suspicion of sex crimes against a student.
At his arraignment three days later in Pomona Superior Court, Acosta denied 17 felony charges, including unlawful sex with a minor, lewd acts on a minor, oral copulation of a minor and sexual penetration by a foreign object, according to court documents and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Officials.
Acosta was scheduled to again appear in Pomona Superior Court for a preliminary hearing June 20, district attorney’s officials said.
At the hearing, a judge will listen to a summary of the evidence and make a ruling on whether sufficient evidence exists to order the defendant to stand trial.
According to county booking records, Acosta was released from custody pending court proceedings May 21 after posting bail. A woman who answered the phone at Acosta’s home Wednesday declined to comment.

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