An El Paso mother says she tracked her son's phone to a red four-door car, followed it until she lost sight of it, and later found a school district employee hiding inside her son's bedroom closet. That employee, 37-year-old Armando Guadalupe Saucedo, has now been arrested and accused of sexually assaulting the 14-year-old boy over a period of roughly ten months.
Saucedo was taken into custody on September 6 after El Paso police officers responded to a west side home for a reported burglary of a habitation, according to KFOX. Officers took Saucedo into custody at the home, and police also impounded a red four-door vehicle belonging to him. The station reports Saucedo is accused of sexual assault of a child.
According to a criminal complaint affidavit cited by the outlet, the alleged offenses occurred between November 1, 2025, and August 29, 2026. The boy told investigators he met Saucedo through a dating app and that the two first met in person near the end of November 2025. The boy communicated with Saucedo through Sniffies and Snapchat, per the affidavit, and reported that he had been sexually assaulted over several months by someone he met through the app.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children defines online enticement as communicating with someone believed to be a child via the internet with the intent to commit a sexual offense.
A Mother's Pursuit Ends in a Closet
The station's report describes how the boy's mother tracked her son's location during one encounter and saw him near a red four-door car before following the vehicle and losing sight of it. The most recent alleged encounter happened on August 29 in the boy's sister's bedroom, per the same account, and Saucedo allegedly went to the boy's home multiple times.
When the mother eventually found Saucedo inside her son's closet in El Paso, she confronted him, telling him, “Get the f*** out of my house,” according to the affidavit as reported by the outlet. The boy told Saucedo that he was 14, and the affidavit states Saucedo allegedly said his age did not matter and that he had spoken with children before. Investigators say Saucedo allegedly engaged in oral sex with the boy.
A Veteran Educator's Certified Roles
Saucedo's Texas educator certificate identified a lengthy record in classroom and specialized roles within local schools, per the certificate as cited in the report. He served as a special education teacher from 2021 to 2026, a classroom teacher covering core subjects with STR grades from 2021 to 2026, and a bilingual education supplemental Spanish teacher from 2022 to 2026. Most recently, from 2024 to 2026, he worked as an educational diagnostician.
Saucedo is listed as an educational diagnostician within Socorro Independent School District's Special Education department, according to the Socorro Independent School District's own staff listings. Because the alleged encounters originated on the dating and messaging platforms rather than on school property, it remains an open question whether district administrators had any prior awareness of boundary concerns involving Saucedo.
What Texas Law Says About the Charges
Under Texas Penal Code Section 22.011, sexual assault of a child is a second-degree felony carrying a punishment range of 2 to 20 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000, according to Varghese Summersett PLLC. Texas law sets the age of consent at 17, meaning a minor under that age cannot legally consent to sexual activity regardless of how the contact began or whether they appeared willing, as explained by Pantheon Legal Group.
If a victim is under 14 or aggravating circumstances are present, the offense can escalate under Penal Code Section 22.021 to aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first-degree felony punishable by 5 to 99 years or life in prison, according to Saputo Toufexis. A conviction for sexual assault of a minor also triggers mandatory lifetime registration on the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry, imposing permanent restrictions on housing, employment, and proximity to schools, per Deandra Grant Law.
State Oversight Runs Alongside the Criminal Case
Under Texas Education Code Chapter 22A and Senate Bill 571, school principals must report alleged employee misconduct to superintendents within 48 hours, and superintendents are required to relay qualifying allegations to the Texas Education Agency within another 48 hours, according to the Texas Association of School Boards. The Texas Education Agency says superintendents must report qualifying allegations of educator misconduct to TEA Certification, or SBEC, within 48 hours. In June 2026, the state agency launched a public Educator Misconduct Dashboard and Student Protection Resource Center to track reports, investigations, State Board for Educator Certification disciplinary actions, and Do Not Hire Registry entries across public and charter schools. According to the Texas Education Agency, its Educator Misconduct Dashboard allows users to view SBEC sanctions and explore Do Not Hire Registry placements by fiscal year.
That certification board has administrative authority in Texas to discipline educators, including possible suspension or placement on the statewide Do Not Hire Registry. The supplied reports describe criminal charges against Saucedo.
Separately, Hoodline has previously reported on an EPISD probe into a former staffer at Don Haskins PK-8 School.
