New Mexico Middle School Guard Charged with Rape

  • January 27, 2021

The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office has charged a former security guard at a Las Vegas school in the repeated sexual assault of an eighth grade girl in the spring of 2019.

Abran Ulibarri, 52, is charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor, criminal sexual contact of a minor, false imprisonment and bribery or intimidation of a witness and criminal solicitation to commit tampering with evidence.

Ulibarri, who worked at West Las Vegas Middle School until May 2019, was booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center on Thursday. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

According to court records, a 14-year-old student at the school went to Ulibarri for solace when she started having panic attacks in early 2019 and he began sexually assaulting her soon after.

The abuse went on for more than a month before an anonymous Facebook message was sent to the girl’s father in May outlining the abuse and the Las Vegas Police Department opened an investigation.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Magistrate Court:
The girl told police she had been regularly going to Ulibarri’s office when she would get anxious and he would talk her through it. She said things changed sometime after March 2019, when Ulibarri gave her his phone number and the two began texting.

Between then and May 2019, the girl told police she would be in Ulibarri’s office daily and “more often than not” he would sexually assault her. The girl said she felt Ulibarri “took advantage” of the times she was anxious or upset – one instance was when her grandmother was in the hospital.

The girl told police she felt “paralyzed” and was scared when Ulibarri assaulted her and, after multiple incidents, she was “beating herself up for not stopping Ulibarri … and for not telling someone what was happening to her.”

Throughout this period, prosecutors say the two exchanged thousands of text messages and the girl told them Ulibarri would regularly send her sexually explicit texts, including asking her for nude photos. She said Ulibarri would tell her to delete them afterward, saying they would both “get in trouble” if anyone found out.

Ulibarri was placed on administrative leave in May 2019 after the allegations surfaced in an anonymous Facebook message to the girl’s father. The girl’s family got a restraining order against Ulibarri in July.
When investigators with the AG’s Office spoke with Ulibarri in October 2020, he denied the allegations. Ulibarri said the two talked over text “often” but she only visited his office a handful of times.

Ulibarri told investigators the two would have “sexual” conversations but the physical contact between them didn’t go beyond one time he kissed her neck. He said she also sent him unsolicited photos of her in her underwear.

Ulibarri told investigators he believed the girl was making up the allegations to get money from him.

Source: Albuquerque Journal

Featured

  • Electrified Latch Retraction Locks Key Benefits for Retrofits

    Building owners and facility managers increasingly rely on electrified hardware to enhance security while meeting accessibility standards. Among these technologies, electrified or motorized latch retraction locks are especially effective for retrofit projects where existing door and frame conditions complicate upgrades. Latch retraction capable locks combine security, accessibility and code compliance benefits, making them ideal for retrofitting fire-rated and non-rated openings in schools, healthcare facilities, commercial buildings and more. Read Now

  • How Cloud Security Solutions Are Transforming Campus Safety

    Campus administrators today face a challenging mandate: deliver stronger security across their facilities while working within tighter budget constraints. From school districts focused on student safety to hospitals protecting patients and staff, the question remains the same: how do you build security infrastructure that evolves with your needs without requiring massive capital investments? Read Now

  • Rethinking Campus Security From the Inside

    For decades, campus security strategies focused on keeping threats outside school walls. But since the tragedy at Columbine High School, data has shown that many attacks begin inside the building, often in classrooms and corridors. This shift has prompted schools to rethink security from the inside and place greater emphasis on interior elements such as classroom doors. This shift is evidenced by a new generation of classroom door systems engineered to delay inside intruders and an ASTM standard that raises the bar on how these systems must be designed to defend against attack. Read Now

  • AI in Security: Advancing Campus Safety and Considerations for Implementing

    Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to capture attention across every sector, and the physical security industry is no exception. Once seen as experimental, AI-enabled analytics now underpin how organizations monitor environments, detect threats, and make decisions. What was once futuristic is now a practical necessity for safety professionals managing growing volumes of data, tighter resources, and increasing expectations for faster, more accurate responses. Read Now

Most   Popular