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

Gerardo Guerrero, 31, of Austin, was indicted on one count of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct and distributing via electronic communications material relating to or depicting sexual conduct with a child , both crimes.

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

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

The student reportedly stated that when she gave Guerrero a muffin, he asked for her full name and told her to stop by at the end of the day to get some candy, which she and her friend did before going home.

He later found her on Instagram and Snapchat and contacted her.

Court documents show the teenager was added by a Snapchatter named “Jear Bear.” When she asked who he was, he replied that he was “Mr. Guerrero” and told her he got her cake. She apparently looked up his Instagram account and saw who he was and texted him back on Snapchat asking if he had contacted the right person and told him she was a student.

Guerrero replied, “It’s fine and no one will find out.”

Law enforcement officials were given permission to go through the student’s phone and found a video and 10 photos Guerrero allegedly sent to the girl, including some of a sexual nature.

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

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

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