Security forces speak to police about incident involving student at South Valley Academy

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) – South Valley Academy principal Richard Perea is facing serious consequences after being accused of holding a box cutter to a student’s throat. It started as a disciplinary meeting with a high school student and then took a strange turn.

School Security Officer 1: “Mr. Perea says, ‘Let’s start with your pockets. Empty your pockets.'”
School Security Officer 2: “He has a box cutter about this size.”
School Security Officer 1: So Mr. Perea says, ‘Stand up, I’m going to show you what a Chicano does.'”

These were two security guards who described to police what they had observed in the office of school principal Richard Perea in April. It all started, according to the guards, when Perea wanted to confront a 17-year-old student whom he suspected of vaping in the bathroom.

School Security Officer 2: “I’ll get him out of the bathroom and bring him back to the office.”
School Security Officer 1: “Mr. Pera asked me to stay.”

When the two guards were in the bathroom, Perea ordered the student to empty his pockets. There is no sign of an e-cigarette device, but the student pulls out a box cutter.

School Security Officer 2: “He puts it down, Mr. Pera looks at it and says, ‘Oh no, I have to confiscate that.'”

Security officials said the student explained that this was part of the service-learning program he and the other students were completing after regular classes, but acknowledged that he was not supposed to participate.

At that moment, according to the guards, Perea ordered the student to stand up.

Security Officer 1: “He opened the blade, put it in his right hand and put it around his neck with his arm. Then he made a movement with the blade in his hand and said: ‘I could cut your carotid artery that quickly and you could bleed to death.'”

They said he ran the blade close to the teenager’s neck.

Security guard 2: “He said, ‘See what I could have done? And you don’t even know I have a knife in my hand.'”
Security Officer 1: “If you walk past a Chicano, he might use it as a weapon.” Something like that.”
Security Guard 2: “He has this whole way of teaching you a story, he’s old school, he teaches you the whole little story.”

As it turns out, it was a costly lesson for Pera, who now faces charges of aggravated assault and child abuse. He is now out of prison awaiting trial. South Valley Academy placed him on leave after the allegations came to light.