Former D.C. Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sexual Child Abuse of Student

September 14, 2009

A former Washington, D.C. charter school teacher has pleaded guilty of sexually abusing a 14-year-old student. Ricardo Antonio Cuaderes, 57, of the 3900 block of Normandy Woods Drive in Ellicott City, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual child abuse in Howard County Circuit Court this morning.

Howard County Police began investigating Cuaderes last spring after receiving an initial report from the District’s Metropolitan Police Department indicating that a teacher at the Young America Works Public Charter School had transported a juvenile male student to the teacher’s Ellicott City home where they had engaged in sexual activity. Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Susan A. Weinstein told the court that Cuaderes called the student’s mother asking her permission to allow the student to help him decorate the school on a Saturday in the fall of 2008. Instead, Weinstein said, Cuaderes picked up the student at the Fort Totten Metro station and drove him to Ellicott City.

Weinstein told the court that today is the victim’s first day of the new school year and so he declined to attend the plea hearing. She read a statement from the victim, telling the court, “He does harbor a lot of anger (at Cuaderes).”

Howard County Circuit Court Judge Diane O. Leasure sentenced Cuaderes to nine years suspending all but 18 months to be served at the Howard County Detention Center. When he is released from jail he will be placed on five years supervised probation, must register as child sex offender and is to have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.