MoCo Judge Lets MCPS Aide out on $3,150 bond on Sexual Abuse of Child Charge, Aide Disappears. Is Aide Working with Children Some Place Else?

NEW: A warrant has been issued for former MCPS paraeducator Hector Toro.

Last year, MoCo Police arrested the 59yo for allegedly making kids search for candy in his pant pockets.

The court set bond, Toro paid $3,150 and was released from jail. He has been missing ever since... pic.twitter.com/My6Qu8fWIs

— Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) January 24, 2019

8 Schools: Former Montgomery County school aide charged with abuse of 7-year-old

Police have accused a former school aide in Maryland of sexually abusing a female student who as a second-grader allegedly searched for candy in the aide’s pants pocket and touched his genitals.

Hector Hermes Lagos Toro, 58, was arrested and charged with sexual abuse of a minor and a third degree-sex offense for the alleged conduct at Stedwick Elementary School — the latest in a line of onetime Montgomery County school system employees accused of inappropriate contact with students.

Toro, who worked for the Montgomery County school system for more than a decade as a classroom aide and lunch-hour assistant, left the system in 2012 and is a longtime Spanish-language teacher at extracurricular foreign language programs across the county...

...Most recently, Toro worked as a Spanish-language instructor for before- and after-school foreign language programs run out of county elementary schools — one called FLES and the other, Foreign Language for Kids.

Since 2000, he worked with the FLES program operated by Big Learning, which was created by Montgomery’s countywide council of PTAs. This school year, he taught with FLES at Potomac Elementary and at Thurgood Marshall Elementary and Whetstone Elementary, both in Gaithersburg.

Since 2015, he also worked for Foreign Language for Kids, an educational company in Potomac, through which he taught at schools including Wilson Wims Elementary in Clarksburg, Carderock Springs Elementary in Bethesda and Seven Locks Elementary in Potomac.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/former-montgomery-county-school-aide-charged-with-abuse-of-7-year-old/2018/04/03/e41cc566-36cb-11e8-8fd2-49fe3c675a89_story.html?utm_term=.6ed2bf861512

MCCPTA, Wison Wims ES, Stedwick ES, South Lake ES: Germantown Man Allegedly Sexually Abused Student When Working as MCPS Paraeducator

...MCPS hired Toro in 2001 and he worked at Stedwick Elementary from 2001 to 2012, according to Kimball. He also worked at a summer school program at South Lake Elementary School in Montgomery Village from 2001 to 2006.

Kimball wrote Toro currently works for an extracurricular after-school language program not run by MCPS, but contracted through parent-teacher associations. In that role, he worked with children at Wilson Wims Elementary School in Clarksburg. Kimball wrote MCPS is looking into whether he worked at any other schools through the extracurricular program, which she didn’t name...

Germantown Man Allegedly Sexually Abused Student When Working as MCPS Paraeducator: Faces sex offense charges in connection with incident at Stedwick Elementary School

Arrest of former MCPS aide: Toro, in his role as a paraeducator, allowing a 7-year-old female elementary school student to reach into his pants pocket to look for candy.

Former Montgomery County Public Schools Employee Charged with Sexual Offense

Posted on 04/02/2018

Detectives with the Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) have charged Hector Hermes Lagos Toro, age 58, of Locustdale Drive in Germantown, with sexual abuse of a minor and a third degree sex offense.  The charges stem from an incident that occurred in the 2010 – 2011 school year and involve Toro, in his role as a paraeducator, allowing a 7-year-old female elementary school student to reach into his pants pocket to look for candy.

In March 2018, the victim, (who is now 15), came forward to police and reported the abuse.  The victim stated that on a date in the 2010-2011 school year, Toro was monitoring second grade indoor recess as part of his role as an instructional assistant at Stedwick Elementary School.  The victim stated that Toro allowed her to reach into his pockets and manipulate his private area as she searched for candy.

During an interview with detectives, Toro confirmed that children at the school frequently placed their hands in his pockets in search of treats.

Toro was arrested on the strength of a criminal warrant on Friday, March 30, and was transported to the Central Processing Unit.  He was released on bond.

Detectives are requesting that parents of juveniles who may have had contact with Hector Hermes Lagos Toro to talk to their children about any interaction with him and contact SVID detectives at 240-773-5400 if they believe their child was victimized.

http://www.mymcpnews.com/2018/04/02/former-montgomery-county-public-schools-employee-charged-with-sexual-offense/

Kennedy Center Performance Cancelled for Stedwick Kids Opera Company

The opera third grade students at Stedwick Elementary have worked on all school year will not be performed at the Kennedy Center after all. The Discover the Music Inside Kids Opera Company was scheduled to perform “Falling from Judgment” on May 24.  The opera company plans to put on a puppet show to share their work. Teacher Mary McGinn has been leading students through creation of opera productions for 16 years. She sent out the letter below to explain the reason for the cancellation...

http://www.mymcmedia.org/kennedy-center-performance-cancelled-for-stedwick-kids-opera-company/