Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Santa Barbara Unified School District’s (SBUSD) Custodial Services Supervisor has been arrested for various sex crimes against children.
Jose (Joe) Reyes Arroyo, 48-years-old of Santa Barbara, was arrested on September 12 for felony charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child, possession or control of child pornography, and a misdemeanor of “Invade Privacy: Look Through Holes/Etc.”
Arroyo has pled not guilty and is currently in custody at the Santa Barbara County Jail on a $350,000 bail.
The Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD) confirmed Arroyo was not a threat to the general public.
“The crimes were an isolated domestic matter. The only nexus to the Santa Barbara Unified School District were that the subject of the investigation was a school district employee. At this time, our investigation is able to eliminate the possibility of a threat to the general public. Anyone wishing to provide additional information please contact the Santa Barbara Police Department at 805-897-2346,” said SBPD Public Information Officer Anthony Wagner.
SBUSD confirmed on Tuesday evening that upon receipt of this information Arroyo was immediately placed on unpaid leave.
As of Wednesday morning, Arroyo was still listed on SBUSD’s website.
[Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include the statement from the Santa Barbara Police Department and the Santa Barbara Unified School District.]
So the school district has had 10 days to alert parents to this and so far nothing?
Superintendent Maldonado:
WHY were parents not notified of this monster’s arrest?! Instead we are left to find out when family members make us aware of the news article. This is unacceptable! You have a duty to protect our children and to inform parents of the happenings within your district. The fact that this was not reported to us is an egregious and inexcusable oversight.
Parents need to know: where was Mr. Arroyos’ primary physical place of employment? What campuses was he frequenting? Over what period of time was he preying on our children? When did this come to light? Why is he still an active employee of SBUSD?
I look forward to your prompt response to this emergent matter.
*Emailed to Hilda Maldonado* I encourage all parents of SBUSD to contact Ms. Maldonado and demand answers.
Umm, guy is still in jail because he can’t meet bail. Notification would be more critical if he was going to be released. Are your attacks based out of concern for your kids or political in nature?
So true. Look at the sheriff deputies still on paid leave. Two years later. SMH!
Concern for my child, as who knows how long this pervert was frequenting schools. Parents have a right to know if their child may have been one of his victims. This has nothing to do with politics, so stop trying to make it something it isn’t.
Another strike against Unions…why do we still have them again?
It’s crazy that SBUSD kept this quiet and only released a statement after this story broke on Edhat. That’s the exact same BS that eroded the community’s trust in the district two years ago with the MAD academy scandal. Who knows what else they’re sitting on.
It is deeply disturbing that SBUSD waited 10 days and only after the release of this article to notify parents and the public. While the charged allegations may or may not arise from a non school setting it is very concerning that a custodian with apparently access to school toilets, locker rooms, showers, etc districtwide is charged with possession of child porn and peeping. Who is to say that he didn’t get some of the images from his unfettered access? His job provided the perfect cover to spend extended times in the bathrooms even if he was a supervisor. Have the police done a through and complete analysis of his personal and work computer drives? And why is SBUSD once again not showing leadership in immediately informing the public and parents of an alleged predator immediately after placing him on leave? This seems like the MAD academy all over again.
The arrest was a full 10 DAYS AGO. Shame on SBUSD. They fail their students, families and community over and over again. Seriously, folks, parents in this district should call for the rolling of heads over this.
Gross. Heard this from a teacher friend in the district recently. Wonder why SBUSD is keeping it under wraps? Hmm… similar to MAD academy it seems.
That is no surprise to me years ago I was a janitor at SBHS 1980’S Afellow employee older male put his hand on my back side and asked me what I would be willing to do with him to keep my job. I was around 30 then. I almost threw his ass in the incinerator I went off like a bomb raised holy hell I pulled a blade on my supervisor I was ready to go. I was an untreated victim of sexual abuse. I did not sue I got help for my anger before I hurt someone…I’m not surprised at all probably more abusers working in the school system.
Duke, to protect employees from people like you. Tell me you wouldn’t rush to judgment on a case like this without following due process.
Unfounded conspiracy speculation.
Yeah, clearly this guy would have stated he was a molestor on his app, who missed that? Or maybe they are part of the deep-state pedophile ring that Hillary runs? QAnon anyone? Hindsight is so 20/20. Sigh.
I believe in due process…innocent until proven guilty. I was responding to your assertion of how had it is to fire someone with a union contract. That is a very true statement. As we’ve seen with bad police officers and bad teachers, the union protects them at all costs to the detriment of the people they are supposed to be serving. Teachers and Police are good…but we need to get rid of those two unions as they are actively working against the people. We don’t need a union to agree to good pay for them, we can do that on our own as a district/county…but there does need to be a better/easier mechanism to remove problematic police and teachers. Unions make that next to impossible. Unions were quite useful a century ago…but things change…and now they are a problem. Same with guns! It made sense to have blanket allowance to bear firearms 250 years ago…things have changed though and it’s OK to amend the type of guns (and amount of guns) that the general population can and should have. Unfortunetley these common sense things become politicized. Attacking a union is attacking workers…attacking gun rights is attacking the constitution. NO!!!! We don’t need unions and we don’t need AK-47’s! Take the politics out it and give me a reason why the teachers union in 2020 is useful…and what it’s doing to make our collective lives in Santa Barbara better. Can you?
How much is nepotism prevalent in SBUSD hiring practices?
Founder and future President James Madison is proven correct, yet again. Beware of the mob.