Posted on 03/09/2006 2:23:34 PM PST by indcons
A text message is leading to charges for a former Slaton teacher. 32-year-old Abelardo Tomas Mata was arrested yesterday and charged with "online solicitation of a minor." He is now free on a $30,000 bond.
Now, something as simple as a cell phone could be used in an online crime because of text messaging. In this case, Slaton police detective tells us Mata is accused of showing a 13 year old female student an explicit text message.
On February 17th, a Slaton junior high school student walked into the principal's office and showed him a text message she says was sent by her teacher, 32-year-old Able Mata. "Actions of this nature in this or any other district are not good and we're not going to have them," said Slaton Superintendent Jim Taliaferro.
Cell phones and text messaging have become very popular with people of all ages. In this instance, police are saying a teacher text messaged a hidden code, but when you turn it upside-down, it becomes an inappropriate message.
"He (the principal) had pulled the teacher in talked to the teacher about actions that were inappropriate. And at that time the teacher was no longer with this district," said Taliaferro.
With the personnel change could come policy change as well. The superintendent tells us the district is currently reviewing its cell phone policies. "We don't use cell phones. This was a case where a cell phone was out during instruction time, shouldn't have been that way," he said.
Meanwhile, the State Board of Education is investigating Mata to see if they should revoke his teaching license. "What this means for him is it's in the state's hands, the district did what they needed to," explains Taliaferro.
NewsChannel 11 spoke with the 13-year-old victim's family Wednesday, who didn't want to appear on camera, but told us their daughter is having a very hard time at school, and has not been offered counseling. The family is currently talking to an attorney.
Someone thinks they hit the motherlode.
22378008? I remember this one from over 20 years ago. What else goes upside like that?
Are you kidding me ? A 'hidden code' when turned upside down becomes a 'inappropriate message' ? Huh ?
Something's fishy. And they're suing, too. 'Cause she's not getting any 'counseling'.
Good point.....
I am sure the daughter is hurt for life because of this message. I am sure her parents are hurt even more - a couple of million dollars from the Slaton ISD will take care of the parents' hurt though /sarc
The present day trash were educated by the same type of liberal, multi cultural, quasi socialist teachers that they came to emulate.
Why is anyone surprised?
You know, my neck hurts from turning upside down to look at that and try to figure out what it says.
sigh.....
We used to make words with the numbers on calculators. But I'm too old to remember how to do it now.
Its not rocket science. I used to do it all of the time with pagers.
My favorite for awhile was: less go to bed. - Yes that is an upsidown message.
I thought it was pretty cool until a girl topped it with:
less go to hell.
Try it.
There are way too many shady teachers. I don't think that they do any sort of background check. Some people that I know that are teachers I would not want in the same room as my kids (if I have them).
Reminds me of the blonde who went to the auto parts store to get the 710 cap that was missing from her engine.
They would have pegged the teacher as a pervert if only they had thought to view his resume upside-down!
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