Nov. 6—A Southwest Middle School teacher was charged Wednesday in Freeborn County District Court with soliciting a 15-year-old student for sexual purposes during the 2023-24 school year.

Gerardo Guerrero, 31, of Austin, was charged with one count of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct and one count of electronically distributing communication material that relates or describes sexual conduct to a child, both felonies.

Court documents say Guerrero and the student met briefly at Albert Lea High School when she was handing out cupcakes to teachers one day. That day, Guerrero was working as a substitute teacher.

According to the Albert Lea School District website, he is now a physical education teacher at Southwest.

The student allegedly said that when she gave Guerrero a cupcake, he asked her full name and told her to come by at the end of the day to buy candy, which she and her friend did before to return home.

He then allegedly found her on Instagram and Snapchat and reached out to her.

Court documents say the teen was added by a Snapchat called “Jear Bear.” When she asked him who he was, he replied that he was “Mr. Guerrero” and told her that he had received her cupcake. She allegedly searched his account on Instagram and saw who he was and responded to him on Snapchat, asking if he had contacted the right person and told him she was a student.

Guerrero reportedly responded, “It’s okay and no one will know.”

Law enforcement allegedly obtained permission to search the student’s phone and found a video and 10 photos allegedly sent by Guerrero to the girl, some of which were sexual in nature.

Police received a report on October 31 that the teacher had allegedly solicited the girl for sex. Screenshots of other messages were shown to police, including messages in which Guerrero allegedly talked about dating in secret and about the girl keeping her promise not to tell anyone about what was happening.

Freeborn County District Court Judge Ross Leuning set Guerrero’s unconditional bond at $50,000 and conditional bond at $25,000. Conditions include no contact with the alleged victim and no unsupervised contact with children other than one’s own children. He must also sign an extradition waiver and wear a GPS monitoring device.

The district said in a statement Tuesday that Guerrero is on paid administrative leave. He was arrested Tuesday at Brooskide Educational Center.