New abuse charges brought against former Santa Fe, NM, school nurse
A former employee of Santa Fe Public Schools who was charged in July with molesting a 12-year-old student faces another allegation that he abused a 9-year-old boy who encountered the man at a local Catholic school.
Robert Apodaca, 30, a nurse and minister, now faces three second-degree felony counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor, a boy who attended Gonzales Community School. An arrest warrant affidavit says the student’s parents came forward with the allegations this summer to an elder of the boy’s church, where Apodaca served as a minister.
Apodaca had spent time with the boy regularly, according to the affidavit, and had
reached into the boy’s pants and grabbed his genitals “approximately a hundred times,” until the behavior ended in December 2019.
In an interview with police after his arrest, state prosecutors said in a court filing,
Apodaca admitted to about 10 instances of sexual contact with the boy but denied any sexual abuse took place on school property. He had worked as a health assistant at six schools in the Santa Fe district starting in 2012,
Apodaca later began working full time at Santo Niño Regional Catholic School, where he had been employed part time since 2019, Principal Robin Chavez said in an interview Thursday. He resigned in April, she said, adding she was aware a police report had been filed against Apodaca following a “policy violation.”
Prosecutors said Apodaca has used his positions as a minister and school nurse to sexually abuse children.
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/education/new-abuse-charges-brought-against-former-santa-fe-school-nurse/article_47c17a78-0c0f-11ec-8436-17b32c2fbb3f.html