A Las Vegas City Schools former teacher was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a student at his middle school.
Leonard Romero, 30, will serve about 7 ½ years after District Judge Michael Aragon gave him credit for more than 18 months of pre-sentencing confinement, which Romero spent in a mix of jail and house arrest. The sentence was the maximum possible under a plea agreement Romero’s lawyers reached with state prosecutors in May.
Romero pleaded guilty to four counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor (school employee) and one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor.
In arguing for the minimum under the plea agreement — probation with no prison time — the defense cited his religious devotion and 56 letters sent on his behalf attesting to his character.
“I sincerely hope the letters are true,” Aragon said at the sentencing hearing in San Miguel County District Court, according to the court transcript.
Las Vegas, N.M., police charged the Memorial Middle School science teacher in February 2023, a month after the department received a report of an inappropriate relationship between Romero and a former student who at the time attended Robertson High School.
The initial case was dismissed by prosecutors in April 2023 and turned over to the New Mexico Department of Justice, which sent special agents to arrest Romero in June 2024.
“This defendant was entrusted with the education and safety of children, and he betrayed that trust in the most serious way imaginable,” Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement following the sentencing. “A teacher has a responsibility to protect students — not exploit them. There is no excuse for an adult in a position of authority to sexually abuse a child, and there will be consequences for those who do.”
Under the court’s order, Romero is barred from contact with the victim or her family following his release and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
“We were disappointed that he wasn’t granted a probationary sentence because he has worked hard on his rehabilitation, even before the plea,” defense attorney Lisa Torraco said in a phone interview Friday.
Romero was accused of grooming the student starting in January 2022, when she was 14, on a ski club trip on which he was a teacher chaperone.
He and the student began exchanging messages over text and Snapchat, according to state prosecutors, which led to Romero’s suggestion they exchange nude images.
In August 2022, state prosecutors alleged, Romero and the girl began engaging in physical sexual contact, which went on for months.
The girl, a freshman at Robertson High School at that point, “would frequently leave her belongings” in Romero’s middle school classroom during school hours, state prosecutors said.
“L.C. thought she was in a relationship,” Assistant Attorney General Bryan Nickerson said during the hearing. “She was being groomed by a grown adult.”
State prosecutors noted the girl testified in 2025 that she thought she was in love with Romero. She disclosed a statement of sexual abuse to law enforcement during the investigation.
“In retrospect, Mr. Romero knows he used poor judgement and crossed the line with a minor,” his lawyers wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “He is remorseful for his actions and realizes that his lack of control and poor judgement must be dealt with in a healthier way.”
“He is not claimed to have abducted a child and forcibly raped that child,” they wrote. “Rather this became a situational offense wherein he and the student became inappropriately close.”
“Mr. Romero has demonstrated remorse, has worked hard to identify and remove from his life the causes of his behavior, and is at medium risk of re-offense,” his lawyers added, writing that beyond his own overwhelming shame, “his greater concern was his feeling of empathy for that of the student.”
Romero wanted to enroll in sex offender treatment with Albuquerque therapist Bonnie Sanchez, his lawyers wrote, but worried a request to attend would be seen as an admission of guilt. Once he was granted the ability to travel freely throughout the state in March, he began treatment with Sanchez, they wrote.
A civil case filed on behalf of the student’s family accused Las Vegas City Schools of negligence — and of violating the law by conducting internal interviews with students and teachers on Jan. 18 and 19, 2023, before notifying Las Vegas police on Jan. 19.
“School administrators knew, or should have known, Jane Doe was leaving the Robertson High School Campus to go to Memorial Middle School campus as she was given five tardies to her seventh period class,” the family’s suit states.
The suit concluded with a sealed settlement for the girl’s family. Attorney for the family Theresa Hacsi wrote in an email Friday she could not confirm the settlement amount.
“While he is not aware of the final award, Mr. Romero hopes that she received an adequate amount given the harm caused by his actions,” Romero’s attorneys wrote.
