Santa Fe, NEW MEXICO

How one teacher continues to evade prosecution six years later.

Dec 22, 2007 - The New Mexico Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling dismissing five counts former Salazar Elementary School teacher Ernest Dominguez.

The five counts were part of 10 counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor under age 13 for sexual contact with a student who was in fifth and sixth grades at the time. State District Judge Stephen Pfeffer ruled the case could go forward on five of the counts, and he dismissed the other five for being insufficiently specific enough for Dominguez to defend against. The Appellate court agreed with that decision.

Dominguez, 31, who has not yet gone to trial, also faces multiple charges for other alleged victims. He was investigated—but never criminally charged—in Tucumcari in the late 1990s for allegedly molesting boys before he moved to school districts in Espanola and Santa Fe.

LAWSUITS At least four federal lawsuits have been filed against school officials and Dominguez. Settlements in three of those cases—involving two boys in Tucumcari and three boys in Santa Fe—totaled about $1.9 million, according to federal court records.

[One of the lawsuits in the story below claimed the Tucumcari district entered into a confidential settlement with Dominguez when he left the school, agreeing to keep information about him quiet, then turned around and gave positive recommendations to other schools -- including Santa Fe Public Schools -- on his behalf, according to the complaint.]

See Feb 4, 2005 story on Dominguez' and the charges. Dominguez was also featured in a KRQE Nov 20, 2007 story on how troubled teachers are passed to other districts. Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia said that secret deals have happened for decades and not just in New Mexico.

NEW LAWS KRQE reports that the New Mexico legislature passed a law requiring districts to report allegations of sexual misconduct to police. And if the allegations are substantiated it requires the state Department of Education to be notified. In New York state, there is a new law where a superintendent can be charged with a felony for letting a teacher resign, rather than face a sexual misconduct allegation.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL LICENSES Interestingly, a Red Orbit examination of how schools are slow to protect students in New Mexico, dated Sept 6, 2005, found that while education authorities claim they cannot revoke or suspend a teacher's license before a criminal conviction, two of the state's other licensing entities, the New Mexico Medical Board, which polices doctors, and the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court, which oversees lawyers, say they routinely take action against licenses when professionals violate the rules of conduct they're required to uphold, regardless of whether criminal charges have been filed.

Red Orbit found that even after a conviction there is no guarantee that a teacher will have his or her license revoked. Another loophole for teachers they found is confidentiality agreements. Such agreements often prohibit district officials from disclosing why a teacher left. In exchange, the educator agrees to leave quietly and to not sue the district. The agreements often allow teachers to leave a district without a record of allegations of misconduct.

"Teacher ethics are lowered when districts enter into these types of agreements," said Robert Shoop, a professor at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., who has provided expert witness testimony in a number of states in cases involving alleged student abuse at the hands of teachers. His most recent book is "Sexual Exploitation in Schools: How To Spot It and Stop It."

The charges against Dominguez date back to between Aug. 1, 2001 and Nov. 1, 2002.