A former local educator received a second criminal charge after his firing from Legacy High School in the Mansfield Independent School District (MISD).
35-year-old Diego Barona was arrested and charged with the sexual assault of a child younger than 17 years of age back in January.
Now, a new charge has been filed against the former special education aide. The move by law enforcement was announced in a message to parents sent by Legacy High School Principal Stephanie Bonneau on Thursday:
“Earlier this year a parent reached out to the district and alleged that … paraprofessional employee, Diego Barona, was having an inappropriate relationship with a student. That same day, MISD’s Human Resources Department terminated Barona, and the MISD Police Department immediately launched an investigation.”
“The investigation has been ongoing, and today an additional charge of improper relationship between educator and student has been filed and an additional arrest warrant has been issued for Mr. Barona.”
Having an improper relationship with a student while employed as an educator is a second-degree felony in Texas, punishable by up to 20 years in state prison, regardless of the student’s age.
As of Friday afternoon, Tarrant County Jail records do not indicate that Barona has been taken into custody on the new charge.
Barona is not the only local school district employee in North Texas making headlines over an improper relationship with a student. A Dallas Independent School District (DISD) high school teacher was recently arrested for the same crime. However, DISD would not confirm whether he still has his job, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
Not even a month before that arrest, another DISD employee — the athletics director for a middle school — was also taken into police custody after engaging in a similar improper relationship with a student.