A former teacher at State College Area High School was accused of having inappropriate contact with a student. The school system called the accusations “deeply disturbing.”
State College police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause that Cesar J. Caceres Tello, 43, asked the girl sexual questions at school and then touched her improperly in December 2022.
According to a statement from the school system, Caceres Tello was put on administrative leave as soon as the student told them about the claims. Three days later, he quit.
Caceres Tello shut the door and the blinds when they were the only two people in the classroom, the girl told cops. While her friends went to lunch, she stayed behind for a short time to text her friend.
Based on what cops wrote, she said her heart “dropped a little bit” and she was thinking of “the worst.”
When Caceres Tello sat down at a desk, the girl said he slid his chair right next to her and started asking “a lot of questions and getting uncomfortably close,” according to police reports. She told police that it made her cry because it made her so angry.
People said Caceres Tello told her she was “too pretty to cry” in answer. Then he touched her arms, legs, back, face, and hair, and police wrote that he kept making sexual comments that were not suitable.
The girl told cops she “didn’t know what to do” and stayed sitting with “her legs shaking,” the report said.
According to the police report, Caceres Tello sent another female student to look for her and also yelled for her. Authorities wrote that she told them her “heart dropped again.”
A different teacher said it was strange that Caceres Tello skipped the girl’s next class to talk to her in the halls. Police wrote that Caceres Tello told the student not to “start rumors” and then said, “You know nothing happened.”
The girl didn’t answer and went back to class, the cops wrote. The girl’s teacher told cops that she looked upset and had been crying, the police wrote.
Police reported that text messages and video from security cameras that were looked at by a school resource officer supported what the kid said.
Caceres Tello was charged with one felony count of illegal contact with a child and two misdemeanor counts of corrupting minors and indecent assault as reported by Center Daily News.
He was charged on Thursday and freed on $25,000 unsecured bail by District Judge Gregory Koehle. His first court appearance is set for June 26.