San Jose assistant principal among 11 arrested for allegedly communicating with minors for sex, police say
By Carlos E. Castañeda
An assistant principal at a San Jose middle school was among a group of people arrested during a police operation targeting adults seeking minors online to engage in sexual activity, authorities announced on Wednesday.
The San Jose Police Department said in press releases that the operation was part of a broader effort to target child exploitation and human trafficking ahead of Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Police said the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force arrested 11 people between Feb. 3 and Feb. 6 in an undercover chat operation.
During the operation, undercover police and FBI agents identified 31-year-old Ruben Guzman, assistant principal at Sunrise Middle School, as a potential suspect and began an investigation. On Feb. 3, Guzman began communicating with someone he believed was a 13-year-old boy, telling him that he wanted to engage in sexual acts, and offering money in exchange, according to police.
Guzman arranged to pick up the boy in San Jose, and when he arrived, plainclothes officers immediately took him into custody, police said. Officers searched him and his vehicle and found items consistent with the planned encounter, police said. He was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on a charge of communicating with a minor for sex.
The director of Sunrise Middle School told CBS News Bay Area that police informed the school on the day of the arrest and that the allegations “did not involve our school.”
“The individual was removed from campus right away and will have no further contact with students,” said director Teresa Robinson. “Since then, we have spoken with students in age-appropriate ways, communicated directly with families, and made counseling support available on campus. We have also provided clear ways for anyone in our community to share concerns. At this time, there is no information indicating that any Sunrise students were involved.”
The 10 other suspects arrested in the undercover chat operation range in age from their 20s to 70s, and were booked for attempted lewd acts with a minor, arranging meetings for sexual purposes, and other child-exploitation charges, police said. Five of the suspects are San Jose residents, two are Santa Clara residents, and the remainder are Hayward, Milpitas and San Bruno residents.
Besides the FBI, the Police Department said other agencies assisting in the operation included the Fremont Police Department, Greenfield Police Department, Menlo Park Police Department, Napa County Sheriff’s Office, Newark Police Department, San Francisco Police Department, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, and ICAC-designated special agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The department urges anyone with information about these cases or similar activity to contact its ICAC/Child Exploitation Detail at 4269@sanjoseca.gov or 408-277-4102.
