SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A Mount Miguel High School student suspected of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl at the Spring Valley campus turned himself in to authorities Thursday and was jailed on a slate of criminal charges.
Reyvon Tafare English, 18, surrendered at the San Diego County Sheriff's Department's Rancho San Diego station and was booked on suspicion of kidnapping, false imprisonment and various sex assault offenses, the regional law enforcement agency reported.
The victim was at the campus on Blossom Valley Lane for an after-school program when English allegedly attacked her in a restroom about 4 p.m. last Thursday.
"She notified school staff, who contacted the Sheriff's Department immediately," sheriff's Lt. Lon Nguyen said.
The lieutenant did not disclose how investigators identified English as the alleged attacker.
English was being held at San Diego Central Jail without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Monday afternoon.
In a letter to families, Mount Miguel High Principal Jake Gaeir addressed the incident:
“The safety of our students and staff is always our top priority, so I wanted to make sure you were aware that the San Diego Sheriff’s Department is conducting an investigation into allegations that a student sexually assaulted another student on campus after school hours last Thursday. Today, the Sheriff’s Department announced that they have made an arrest in the case.
As the Sheriff’s Department indicated in their announcement, the Mount Miguel staff has taken this matter very seriously from the moment we learned of the allegations. Given the nature of this investigation, we were not able to discuss the matter publicly until today’s arrest. We’ll continue to work closely with the Sheriff’s Department, and we are providing the victim of the alleged assault and their family with all of the supportive measures we can. We will continue to check in on the victim regularly.
The alleged perpetrator has been removed from campus, and we have pursued appropriate school discipline. While it’s understandable that families may want to know what specific disciplinary action is being taken, federal and state laws protect the privacy of information and records personally identifiable to a student. That means that our school is prohibited from sharing information about specific disciplinary actions with anyone other than the student receiving the discipline or their parents or guardians.
Finally, we are deeply committed to doing everything within our power to prevent something like this from happening again in the future. Nothing is more important to me than the safety of our students and staff. I am proud of the way our staff handled the situation and am grateful for the partnership of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department who is committed to keeping our community safe.”
Copyright 2024, City News Service, Inc.
