Mother talks about South Valley school director holding box cutter blade to son’s neck
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A concerned mother is speaking out after her son, a Junior at South Valley Academy, had a blade to his neck at school. The man accused of doing it? The Executive Director of the Charter School.
“My heart dropped. My heart dropped. I started crying, I told him, I was like, ‘If he did this, what’s next,'” said Claudia Morales, the student’s mother.
Morales says it happened on April 18. She received a call from the school that morning saying her son was threatened by Richard Perea, the executive director, who put a box cutter to his neck.
“It’s something that I can’t explain. It’s really, I was scared. I was like nervous. I was crying,” Morales said.
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According to a criminal complaint, the student was inside a school restroom when a security guard escorted him out and to Perea’s office, saying he was suspected of vaping in the bathroom. The student was searched, and while no vape was found, a box cutter was in his pocket. Documents say he explained he had that blade for ranch work after school. The complaint says the student gave the box cutter up and agreed to let security take it.
However, that’s when Perea is accused of grabbing the box cutter, opening the blade, and putting it close to the student’s neck saying: “Boom, jugular vein” and “Stand up, I’m gonna show you what a Chicano man does.”
Perea is also accused of moving the blade from one side of the student’s neck to the other.
“He said, ‘Mom, my heart dropped.’ He’s all, ‘If I would have moved, he would have cut me. He would have cut my neck,'” Morales recalled.
Flash forward to Wednesday night: The school council held a meeting where some faculty and community members expressed support for the director while others, like Morales, did not. At that meeting, the council voted to reinstate Perea despite the criminal allegations. On Thursday, the council told KRQE News 13 that Perea is on administrative leave.
There is a warrant out for Perea’s arrest. He’s facing several charges including aggravated assault and child abuse.
