Students at AB Miller High School in Fontana returned to school Monday after learning one of their teachers and four of their classmates had been arrested over the weekend in connection with a hazing incident.
Emmanuel de la Rosa, 27, was booked into the San Bernardino County Jail on suspicion of child endangerment.
He possibly directed them to assault another classmate to enforce behavioral problems in a summer-school session, police allege.
Kimberly Aguiar, a student in De la Rosa's masonry class said the boys would horse around and sometimes engage in sexual-type games such as shoving and poking. She said the teacher was not in the classroom when at least one of the incidents took place.
“Mr. D. would be like, ‘Don’t even mess around like that,’” Aguiar said.
School officials notified police on Friday of possible hazing.
"This is something that clearly has taken us all off guard,” said Cali Olsen-Binks, the superintendent of the Fontana Unified School District. “We really are trying to wrap our heads around."
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Also taken into custody was Fernando Salgado, 18. He faces assault, child cruelty and attempted penetration by foreign object charges on Tuesday when he's expected in court.
Clarification: An earlier version of this story reported that the suspect was charged with attempted sodomy. The story has been changed to reflect the official charge: "attempted penetration by foreign object."
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