Youth counselor arrested after sexual assaults at San Jose school, police say

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Police are looking for additional victims of sexual assault after a youth counselor was arrested for acts carried out on a school's campus in San Jose.

There's a certain level of trust on a school's campus that the children will be safe and protected.

But sadly, that trust was broken when a student was sexually assaulted on an Alum Rock Union School District campus.

News that upset Superintendent Hilaria Bauer.

"My heart goes out to the victims, or the potential victims," Bauer said.

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At least one minor was involved in inappropriate sexual contact with 27-year-old Silvio Yoc-Aguilar, according to San Jose Police.

He worked as a youth counselor for New Hope For Youth that operated out of Hubbard School.

The organization specializes in youth outreach and intervention. They hung up on us when we called for comment and deleted their website midway through the afternoon on Monday.

Yoc-Aguilar was arrested after at least 25 incidents were reported in a span from January to October of this year.

"The sexual assaults occurred in a classroom at Hubbard Middle School as well as in this suspect's vehicle," SJPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Christian Camarillo said. "The victim is no longer a student at the middle school. She has moved on to high school. He would pick her up at her current high school in his vehicle where other acts occurred."

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These acts are not the only sexual assaults of minors on an Alum Rock Union campus this year.

Nearly two weeks ago, SJPD arrested music teacher Israel Santiago at Adelante Dual Language Academy.

We asked Bauer what needs to be done differently to prevent these things from happening in the future.

"We are in our own analysis of our own processes of what is it that we are doing internally to make sure that all of our staff is very clear about how we deal with these kind of things," Bauer said.

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The district tells us they have also cut ties with New Hope For Youth.

Bauer and SJPD credit the mother of the female student who alerted police of the sexual assaults and they encourage other parents to do the same.

"We want to make sure that very strong family communication exists so that children are able to come forward to parents, and parents know what their children and other adults in the lives of their children are up to," Bauer said.

Police are asking for any other victims of these assaults to come forward and reach out to the department.

New Hope for Youth released the following statement:

"On December 1, 2022, New Hope for Youth (NHFY) learned from the San Jose City Police Department that a former employee had been arrested and was being investigated for sexual assault on a student with whom he had contact during his work assignment at Hubbard Middle School. New Hope for Youth is cooperating fully with San Jose Police Department. New Hope for Youth contacted Alum Rock Union Elementary School District immediately and was told that they were aware of the investigation already.

We later learned from published reports that the abuse had occurred during his period of employment with NHFY. This was devastating news to all of us at New Hope for Youth. There had been no complaints from the students, parents, or school administrators, school staff with whom he worked on the campus or anything negative about his work with students and parents during NHFYs site visit with Hubbard Middle School staff and New Hope staff assigned to the campus.

Our staff and I are extremely saddened that this occurred, and we have reached out to the family to express our concern and support as the healing process begins for their daughter and the family. New Hope for Youth is dedicated to assuring that the safety and wellbeing of the youth is our highest priority in working with them and the community and that our work comes from a place of compassion.

All staff when they are employed go through the required criminal background check through Department of Justice prior to employment, including fingerprinting. Each staff goes through Sexual Harassment training, and supervisory staff and staff working with youth receive Mandated Reporting training, training about maintaining healthy boundaries, and training on dual relationships.

Since this news became public, New Hope for Youth had to suspend access to its website for approximately 24 hours because of unauthorized attempts to add links to our website by outside sources. As the community is concerned, so is New Hope for Youth. For safety and reporting purposes, we had to ensure that our own children and grandchildren with whom the former employee had contact and access, had not suffered abuse. We had to take time to address this before we could respond to the many media inquiries and re-active our website. The website has been repaired and is now active again.

New Hope for Youth expresses its continued commitment toward our mission: To serve and reach out to all as at-risk youth, young adults, their families, and community, especially those impacted by violence and high-risk lifestyle.

Our services are through educational programs, individuals, and family care. We support and resource opportunities that support a healthy, positive, and productive lifestyle."

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