Charges dismissed against Santo Niño principal accused of obstructing child abuse report

Jan. 26—State District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed criminal charges this week against two of four Santo Niño Regional Catholic School employees — including Principal Robin Chavez — who had been accused of failing to report child abuse after a 2021 incident involving a former school health aide who has since been accused of molesting four children.

The First Judicial District Attorney's Office charged four people, including Chavez, school employee Maida Esquibel, Archdiocese of Santa Fe Superintendent Susan Murphy and Annette Klimka, the archdiocese's victim assistance and safe environment coordinator, with failure to report an incident involving school employee Robert Apodaca.

Apodaca, 32, is accused of molesting four children and teenagers while working at Santo Niño and Gonzales Community School from 2018 to 2021.

According to court records, Esquibel told Chavez on April 23, 2021, she'd entered a darkened room where students were watching a video and had seen a 9-year-old boy seated on Apodaca's lap.

Chavez didn't call police, instead reporting the incident to Murphy and Klimka, who urged her to gather more information before taking action, according to court records and previous reports.

The principal told the child's mother about the incident April 28, and it was the parent who alerted law enforcement.

The boy didn't allege any abuse in an initial interview, according to the records, but made allegations in a second interview, which resulted in criminal charges against Apodaca.

Each of the four defendants faced two charges: obstructing a report of child abuse or neglect and failure to report child abuse or neglect.

Sommer dismissed the cases against Klimka and Chavez earlier this week, granting motions their attorneys filed. In them, they argued the women had committed no crime because the lap sitting was a violation of school policy but didn't constitute child abuse. Their decision to report it up the chain of command instead of to police, attorneys contended, was not a violation of reporting requirements.

"This has been an unnecessary ordeal for Robin and she is greatly relieved to be vindicated," Chavez's attorney Dan Cron said in a phone interview late Wednesday.

Klimka's attorney Jerry Todd Wertheim said in a phone interview Thursday his client is "relieved" to have prevailed on the motion to dismiss.

The state dismissed the charges against Esquibel last month, writing in a motion it was "in the best interest of justice" to do so after attorney Kitren Fischer filed a motion that made the same argument the other attorneys later prevailed on, according to court documents.

Fischer said Esquibel was relieved to be "publicly exonerated" but added she never should have faced charges because she "unequivocally did not break the law."

Esquibel — who works in finance and is not an educator — is still employed by the school, Fischer said, but has had to work remotely while the problem is being resolved.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Murphy's attorney Tom Clark has filed a motion asking the charges in her case also be thrown out based on the same arguments made by the other attorneys. The court has not yet held a hearing on his motion.

District Attorney's Office spokeswoman JoHanna Cox wrote in an email Thursday prosecutors are "disappointed" in the judge's ruling on the issue.

"The [District Attorney's Office] charged these individuals because they were aware of conduct [by] Robert Apodaca that ultimately was a chargeable offense of Criminal Sexual Contact of a Minor," Cox wrote.

Cox wrote the case is "a clear example of why mandatory reporting to law enforcement and/or CYFD [the state Children Youth and Families Department] is so essential in these delicate cases. Trained investigators and law enforcement are key in these prosecutions."

A spokesman for the Children, Youth and Families Department declined to comment on the decision.

Sommer also took action in one of the criminal cases pending against Apodaca this week, rejecting a proposed plea Wednesday after the defendant told the judge he hadn't talked to his lawyer in person about possible defenses they could have used at a jury trial before agreeing to the deal.

It was the second plea agreement Sommer has rejected in Apodaca's pending cases since Dec. 7.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Anthony Long filed a motion in December to dismiss one of the cases against Apodaca "pending further investigation," according to online court records, leaving active three cases.

Apodaca was set to plead guilty Wednesday to three counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor in one of his cases, which would have seen him face between 18 and 30 years in prison.

Sommer rejected the plea and rescheduled the case for March 9.