MCALLEN, Texas — The most recent arrest of a nurse’s aide at a Texas border school accused of having a relationship with a student is the latest of a string of scandals where school employees have been arrested or accused of having sexual relations with the students in their care.
The La Joya school police arrested Maria Melendez Pena, a 32-year-old school nurse’s aide at La Joya West who has been charged with improper relations between educator and student for having an alleged relation with an 18-year-old student at the school, information released to Breitbart Texas by La Joya School Police revealed.
The two had been having a relationship since September 2014. However, authorities first received information about the case in January when the two were seen in a public place together, prompting an investigation.
Melendez’s arrest is the latest in a string of high profile cases dealing with school employees and students at the Texas border. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, in the border city of Donna, a teacher who is the son-in-law of the school superintendent, a coach, and a school truancy officer have been arrested in separate cases for allegedly having a relationship with a student. Carlos Cordova, the son-in-law of Superintendent Jesus Reyna, is accused of even having had sex with a female student in a classroom.
In addition to the three Donna school employees, two security guards at that school have been suspended from their jobs after allegations arose that they had been sending text messages to female students, The Monitor reported.
Authorities arrested La Joya high school teacher Jorge Alberto Gonzalez in 2014, accusing him of having sexual relations with a 16-year-old inside the school. Just last week a grand jury handed down an indictment with additional charges to which he pleaded not guilty, court records revealed.