Former St. Paul teacher pleads guilty to criminal sexual conduct with student

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A former St. Paul Public School (SPPS) teacher pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct involving a student during the 2022 school year.  

Pablo Alejandro Cortes, 50, pled guilty on Monday to fifth-degree Criminal Sexual Conduct for non-sexual contact in exchange for prosecutors dropping the initial charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct while in a prohibited occupational relationship.

The plea deal terms require him to register as a predatory offender.  

Cortes taught at Adolescent Girls and Parenting Education (AGAPE) High School at the time of the incident. According to charging documents, an 18-year-old student told police Cortes was a science teacher at her school, and they began talking at the end of the school year in May 2022. When school resumed in the fall, Cortes was her biology teacher. 

The student allegedly told police their relationship turned inappropriate during the first week of December. The pair would allegedly text and Snapchat each other and were "joking around but a little flirty," the complaint reads. 

However, the pair decided to meet after school on Dec. 2, 2022, and Cortes asked his student if there were going to "just sit in a car" and she said "no." The complaint alleges Cortes instructed the student to follow him as they drove to a parking ramp near Como Park. 

At the parking ramp, the victim claimed Cortes exposed himself, and at that point, she didn’t want to do anything more but continued to because she was scared, the complaint states. 

The victim says she ultimately performed oral sex on Cortes. During the encounter, she told police they both knew what they were doing was wrong, and Cortes fretted about losing his job and girlfriend if the details were to get out.

Afterward, the pair said they were never going to do it again. The teen says Cortes reached out to her later and allegedly stated he felt "so guilty" and "so bad." Cortes resigned from his position shortly after the school found out about the report. 

The former teacher will be sentenced on July 5.