A teacher in Stanislaus County is accused of having sexual relations with a teen who was an underage student at the time, Riverbank Police Services said Wednesday.
As reported by KCRA, Dulce Flores, a Spanish teacher at Riverbank High School, is facing charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in connection with a 17-year-old boy in 2023, police said. Officers took her into custody Tuesday afternoon at her home in the area. Police said Flores is being held at the Stanislaus County Jail on a $20,000 bail.
Police Started Investigating After School Official was Notified About the Inappropriate Relationship Between Flores and the Student
Police said they began investigating after a school official was told about the relationship by someone else. Details were not released on who that person was who informed the official. It is also not known how long the investigation lasted before officers arrested Flores.
Flores will be on a leave of absence while the case is investigated, according to a news release from the Riverbank Unified School District (RUSD). The district will cooperate with authorities as necessary, it says, and will communicate with parents and students enrolled in Flores' classes to minimize "any disruption to their instruction for the remainder of the academic year."
Superintendent Constantino Aguilar said in the release, "It is truly unfortunate for our district to face a situation like this. While we continue to work with law enforcement, the district will also look to determine what options it may have available to independently address this matter."
The district release says RUSD uses stringent hiring practices to employ its staff and "expects nothing but the finest in the quality and professionalism of our staff."
Flores is the Second Riverbank Teacher to be Arrested for Having a Sexual Relationship with a Student in Two Years
As pointed out by The Modesto Bee, Flores is the second Riverbank High teacher in the past two years arrested for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a student. Riverbank High staff contacted the Sheriff's Office on in December 2023 to report that it had learned of an alleged sexual relationship Logan Nabors had with a 16-year-old student from 2017 to 2018. Nabors, a former Riverbank High girls basketball coach, was 23 at the time.
