Ex-Sacramento teacher sentenced for student sexual abuse. ‘May you rot in hell’
Maritza Corona was among 11 people who spoke up Friday in court and condemned a school teacher who took advantage of their trust and sexually abused students of a dual-immersion language school in Sacramento designed to help immigrant families educate their children.
“He’s a pedophile who had gotten away with targeting our Latina daughters in south Sacramento,” the mother said before her daughter’s former third-grade teacher was sentenced to prison. “My daughter always feared running into him these past few years.”
Enrique Rodriguez Valladares, the former third-grade teacher at the south Sacramento elementary school, had been released from jail while he awaited trial and after he agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors.
But on Friday afternoon Valladares, 56, was handed over to the custody of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office shortly after he was sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually abusing these students.
Corona told the judge that she wanted Valladares to feel all the trauma her daughter has endured. She also said she doesn’t feel justice was served.
“May you rot in hell, because God doesn’t forgive pedophiles,” the mother told Valladares. “Because that’s what you are.”
The Sheriff’s Office arrested Valladares in December 2021 after he was accused of committing lewd acts with children over a two-year period.
Sheriff’s officials said at the time of his arrest that Valladares worked as a teacher at Bowling Green Chacon Language and Science Academy, and there are “multiple victims” stemming from alleged misconduct that occurred from August 2017 through June 2019.
Valladares on March 13 pleaded no contest to 19 counts of sexual abuse of children, which included three counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child younger than 14 years old and 16 counts of child molestation.
His first trial ended July 6, 2023, with the jury unable to reach a unanimous verdict and the judge forced to declare a mistrial. Before his second trial could begin, the prosecution and defense attorneys reached a plea agreement that secured Valladares’ conviction.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Ernest W. Sawtelle told the victims and their families who filled the courtroom Friday that the eight-year prison sentence was not his decision; it was the result of negotiations that he oversaw. He said one side was concerned a new jury could convict Valladares and result in a lengthier prison sentence, while the other side was feared the victims would be forced to testify in court again for a trial that could end with another hung jury.
“I know this is not an end to what you’re going through,” Sawtelle told the victims and their families. “This case is among the worst in the sheer volume in the level of deceit; just pain to so many people to the position of trust he had with you.”
In court Friday, Valladares spoke only briefly to answer Sawtelle’s questions.
Before Valladares was sentenced, Corona’s daughter told the judge she was too young at the time to know what her teacher was doing to her was wrong.
“I’m glad Mr. V. will no longer hurt me,” she said. “I would even have nightmares about Mr. V.”
The Sacramento Bee typically does not name victims or alleged victims of sexual abuse.
Another former student of Valladares told the judge she also did not fully understand what her teacher was doing to her. She was only 9 years old.
“He robbed me of my childhood and made me feel like nobody would ever love me if they knew what happened to me,” she said in court.
Another former student told the judge talking about the sexual abuse as part of the investigation forced those bad memories to resurface. She said she was filled with rage and disbelief when Valladares’ trial ended with a hung jury and when she learned he was getting a plea deal.
“I’m done being angry,” she said in court. “I still don’t forgive him.”
In statements read in court by Deputy District Attorney Amanda Sanchez, other parents said their daughter was once expressive and open but has become more reserved and quiet as a result of the teacher’s abuse. They said they no longer feel their child is safe in school.
Another former student told the judge about suffering panic attacks in school, wondering whether others on campus were staring at her because they knew what happened to her. Others spoke about not having any trust in males, now feeling uncomfortable being close to their fathers. Another said Valladares took her inability to speak English and her fear of what could happen to her parents who were undocumented as tactics to abuse her.
“I hope they (children) never have to encounter a monster like him,” she said in a written statement read in court.
Mayra Gonzalez, another parent, said Valladares gained her trust with what she thought were acts of kindness that were instead “sinister” efforts to groom vulnerable children.
“I want you to understand the depth of damage you’ve caused for the rest of your life,” the mother told Valladares in court.
As part of his sentence, the judge ordered Valladares to register as a sex offender for at least 20 years, to stay away from the victims for 10 years and not communicate with a minor unless approved by the court.
“He will become eligible for parole,” Sawtelle told the victims and their families. “There’s nothing I can do to stop that.”
He called victims “so brave and so courageous” for speaking up about the abuse they suffered.
“You stopped other people from being victimized; any other kid at least in that classroom,” the judge said.
The kindergarten through sixth-grade school on Franklin Boulevard is a part of the Sacramento City Unified School District. Valladares was placed on paid administrative leave shortly after school officials became aware of the allegations against the third-grade teacher on Sept. 10, 2020 and never returned to a classroom setting, school district spokesperson Al Goldberg has said. School officials notified law enforcement.
On Dec. 15, 2021, after he was arrested, Valladares was placed on mandatory unpaid leave due to the the nature of the criminal charges and pursuant to California Education Code, according to the school district spokesperson. He said Valladares resigned Jan. 25, 2023, and Sacramento City Unified filed a report about Valladares with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
Lawsuits against school district
Attorneys from two law firms have filed civil lawsuits against Sacramento City Unified, which allege Valladares sexually harassed, abused and molested eight girls ages 4 to 14 while teaching at the south Sacramento school.
Bowling Green Chacon Language and Science Academy is a dual-immersion school, where many of the students including some of the victims in the lawsuit are children of Spanish-speaking immigrants, according to the attorneys suing the school district.
The attorneys suing the school district allege that Valladares used his knowledge of Spanish in conjunction with other methods to groom female students.
The lawsuits, which are still pending in Sacramento Superior Court, also allege that from 2008 through 2013 the campus principal received numerous complaints from students’ parents, as well as teachers, who reported Valladares was secluding students in his classroom with the door locked during lunch and recess hours.
The attorneys representing the eight victimized girls and their families argue that the then principal, who is no longer the principal at that school, failed to conduct any reasonable investigation or otherwise take remedial action to prevent Valladares from isolating and sexually abusing children.
The lawsuits accuse Sacramento City Unified of improperly supervising Valladares.
When The Bee asked whether the former principal still worked for the school district, the Sacramento City Unified spokesperson said on Friday that they will not be commenting on pending litigation or personnel matters as part of district policy.
The attorneys representing the victims, Brittany A. Charboneau with the Irvine-based Manly, Stewart & Finaldi law firm and Paul Hoybjerg with the Rocklin-based Hoybjerg Law firm, said the sentencing in Valladares’ criminal case is only part of the justice they’re seeking for these families.
“These victims are gonna be living with this for the rest of their lives,” Hoybjerg told The Bee after Friday’s hearing. “And what’s crazy is that a lot of these victims were only 8 years old when this happened, and yet he’s only getting eight years in terms of a criminal sentence.”
The attorneys argue that school officials ignored numerous warning signs and did nothing.
“We believe that they should be held responsible for their negligence and just absolute utter disregard for the safety of elementary school students,” Charboneau said. “We’re just really pleased that our clients had the opportunity to be here today to confront Valladares, and we’re just hoping that they’re able to heal from this process.”
