Opinion: Child predators must be held accountable

Another case of child rape was reported in Las Vegas recently. A Las Vegas City Schools teacher, Leonard Romero, was arrested for the alleged crime. If the accusations prove to be true, this is yet another instance of a young person in this community having their innocence destroyed and their life changed forever because of the actions of someone with power and authority over them.

The level of outrage should be off the charts. This should be terrifying for parents and everyone else in Las Vegas. But instead, it seems as if apathy has set in, and news of a young girl having a sexual relationship with one of her teachers just doesn’t surprise many people.

Maybe that is a problem all by itself.

The lack of a strong, widespread reaction to hearing this news should tell all of us that it’s happening far too often.

New Mexico ranks seventh in the nation in reported rape rates. The rate of reported cases is even higher in northern New Mexico, specifically San Miguel County where, per capita, the rate is off the charts.

We must understand this is a serious issue, and has been for a long time. Among the most concerning statistics statewide: more than 30% of all rape victims are under the age of 12, and another 30% are under the age of 18.

These are not isolated instances. These trends show that people with power and influence over young people use it to destroy their lives forever. At what point do we finally accept that something has to change?

Just within the past three years, we have reported on several instances of school employees in San Miguel County using their positions to become close to young girls, later turning those relationships into sexual encounters. There was a security guard at West Las Vegas Middle School who is now serving time in prison for raping a young girl in his office at the school. There was a basketball coach in Pecos that used Snapchat to gain the trust of young girls and then demanded nude photos of them, and also demanded sex. He is now also spending time in prison for his crime.

And now we have a middle school teacher at Memorial Middle School that allegedly became close to a young girl while chaperoning a Ski Club field trip, and reportedly used that relationship to convince her to come to his house for sex.

Time will tell if he faces the same fate as the other school employees in similar situations.

The first step in solving any problem is admitting that there is a problem. As a community, we must come together and say that our young boys and girls deserve better, that they deserve to be able to go to school without worry of being manipulated into doing things they otherwise wouldn’t be doing.

We must hold these predators accountable. It doesn’t matter what family they come from. It doesn’t matter if they’ve done great things in the past. It doesn’t matter if they have friends in high places. Our children are depending on us to protect them.

— Las Vegas (N.M.) Optic