Teacher Admits Sexually Assaulting Perris Boy

RIVERSIDE - A 30-year-old former Perris High School math teacher who sexually assaulted a boy on multiple occasions pleaded guilty today to seven felony offenses.

Gerardo Curiel Regalado of Perris admitted five counts of sodomy of a child under 16 years old, as well as one count each of supplying pornography to a minor and annoying a child. The plea was made directly to Riverside County Superior Court Judge Ronald Taylor, without input from the District Attorney's Office.

Taylor indicated a sentence of three years, eight months in state prison would be appropriate, to which prosecutors objected, but he overruled the objection and scheduled a sentencing hearing for Jan. 7 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Taylor left Regalado's bail at $1 million. He is being held at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

According to sheriff's Sgt. John Burke, deputies were notified near the end of January of inappropriate contact between Regalado and the victim,

identified in court documents only as ``John Doe,'' beginning in 2013.

Regalado was working as a tutor and varsity volleyball coach for both the boys' and girls' teams at Perris High, Burke said.

According to court records, the illicit sex acts occurred mostly in 2015, both in Perris and Lake Elsinore. The circumstances were not disclosed.

Prosecutors said there was a second youth on whom Regalado additionally focused his attention, but no sexual abuse was alleged, only harassment. That victim's name also was not revealed.

Soon after the sheriff's investigation got underway, Regalado was suspended from his position as a math teacher, a job into which he had been

placed in August 2019, according to the Perris Union High School District.

Officials said shortly before being taken into custody, Regalado resigned his post.

Regalado has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

Copyright 2021, City News Service, Inc.

CNS-10-26-2021 17:47