A now-former girls’ basketball coach and criminal justice teacher in Brownsville Independent School District admitted to having sex with a student, but he might not serve any jail time.
Julio Ricardo Trujillo, 43, was arrested in May and charged with improper relationship between educator and student, a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison.
On Monday, Trujillo pleaded guilty in exchange for a sentence of five years’ probation. He also agreed to permanently surrender his teaching certificate, which is currently under review by the Texas Education Agency.
Prosecutors asked for a sentence of six months in county jail.
Judge Adolfo E. Cordova Jr. of the 197th District Court will sentence Trujillo at a later date.
Trujillo was head coach of the girls’ varsity basketball team and taught Criminal Justice and Principles of Law at Rivera Early College High School in Brownsville ISD.
His victim was a 19-year-old female student who Trujillo first had sex with in a campus classroom on April 14 around 11:30 a.m.
School surveillance video confirmed the details of the girl’s report to investigators, as did a text message Trujillo sent the girl 15 minutes later stating, “It finally happened, I loved it even if we had to rush lol.”
The student told authorities that on two other occasions, Trujillo picked her up and took her to a nearby park to engage in sex acts in his vehicle.
In September, Trujillo pleaded not guilty to three counts of improper relationship between educator and student.
At the time of Trujillo’s arrest, Brownsville ISD officials confirmed that other employees at Rivera Early College High School and Hanna Early College High School were also under criminal investigation.
Trujillo is among hundreds of Texas school employees accused of sex crimes against students and other children in just the past few years.
Thousands of educator sexual misconduct cases have been reported to the state since the TEA began keeping organized records in 2021.
