An El Paso educator is charged with sneaking into a home and raping a 14-year-old boy he met on a dating app.
Armando Guadalupe Saucedo, 38, is a diagnostician at Vista Del Sol Environmental Science Academy, an elementary campus in the Socorro Independent School District.
El Paso police arrested Saucedo after the boy’s mother allegedly found the educator hiding in her son’s closet.
Saucedo was charged with sexual assault of a child (statutory rape) and criminal trespass.
According to a report by KTSM, the boy told investigators he met Saucedo through a dating app and that Saucedo had sexually assaulted him multiple times over the past nine months.
The targeted child said he and Saucedo had been communicating via the Sniffles and Snapchat apps. He said he told Saucedo he was only 14, and Saucedo said it didn’t matter.
The boy said they first met in person in November 2025, and he let Saucedo into his home for sexual encounters multiple times between then and August 2026.
Saucedo was booked into the El Paso County Downtown Jail on September 6 and released the next day on bonds totaling $102,500, $100,000 for the sexual assault charge and $2,500 for the trespass charge.
Internet Crimes Against Children detectives assisted in the investigation.
Socorro ISD confirmed Saucedo was hired in January 2026 and is currently on administrative leave from Vista Del Sol, which serves pre-K through 5th grade students.
The school’s principal released a statement regarding Saucedo’s arrest, without naming him:
Hi, this is Jennifer Ellis Martinez, principal of Vista Del Sol Environmental Science Academy. I am calling to inform you that we received a report of alleged inappropriate conduct by a Socorro ISD employee who works at our school. The allegations involve off-campus activity and there are no allegations of misconduct or wrongdoing involving Vista Del Sol. The safety and security of our students is our number one priority. The individual named in the allegation was promptly placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the issue. Due to confidentiality laws, this is all the information we are able to share. That said, I assure you that the Socorro Independent School District will take all necessary action to ensure the continued safety and security of our children at Vista Del Sol Environmental Science Academy. Thank you for your continued trust and support of Vista Del Sol and Team SISD.
Saucedo has been certified as a special education teacher since 2020 and added an educational diagnostician certification in 2024. His credentials are under review by the Texas Education Agency.
Diagnosticians generally assess children’s special education eligibility and help prepare individualized programs for special needs students.
Online records show Saucedo previously taught in El Paso ISD and Fort Stockton ISD.
In the past few years, hundreds of Texas school employees have been accused of sex crimes involving students and other children, and thousands have been reported to the TEA for sexual misconduct.
The TEA’s Educator Misconduct Reporting Dashboard shows the agency is currently investigating more than 3,000 sexual misconduct complaints and opening an average of 250 new cases each month.
