Edward Moreno, a former Hillsboro R-3 activities director, is facing a criminal charge for allegedly harassing one of the school district’s Board of Education members, court records show.
Moreno allegedly called the school board member’s cell phone repeatedly and when she answered, he would either breathe heavily or laugh and then hang up, according to a probable-cause statement in the case.
Moreno has been charged with one count of second-degree harassment, a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
Moreno declined to comment about the charge against him.
However, attorney Michael Page Jr., who is representing Moreno, said in an Oct. 18 email that his client “maintains his innocence.
The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed the charge on Sept. 3, after a criminal investigation started Oct. 24, 2020, when the school board member reported the alleged harassment, according to the probable-cause statement.
The alleged victim said she identified the phone number the calls came from by doing a reverse search. She also said the alleged harassment “caused her extreme emotional distress as the calls happen non-stop, at all hours of the night.”
When Jefferson County 9-11 Dispatch called the number, someone would answer but would not speak and just breathed heavily, the report said.
A Jefferson County deputy said he investigated the complaint and found that Moreno allegedly used his cell phone, with his caller ID blocked, to repeatedly call the board member, “only to stay on the phone for several seconds and not say anything.”
The deputy also said Moreno allegedly left several voicemails on the board member’s cell phone “of him breathing in the phone or laughing in the background,” the report said.
The alleged victim told investigators “she believes the harassment stems from a situation at Hillsboro High School, where (Moreno) was fired.”
The alleged victim also said she believes Moreno blames her for the loss of his job because she’s on the school board.
Moreno, who now teaches and coaches at St. Pius X High School in Crystal City, was placed on paid leave by Hillsboro R-3 officials Jan. 7, 2020, after he was accused of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a woman who lives in the district and leaving during school hours to pursue the relationship, according to a letter Moreno provided a Leader reporter for a story published Feb. 27, 2020.
Moreno denied those accusations.
On Feb. 18, 2020, the Hillsboro Board of Education voted to accept Moreno’s request to be transferred to teach at the Jefferson County Juvenile Center in Hillsboro until the end of that school year, when he resigned and retired from the district.
The current Hillsboro R-3 activities director is Chris Schacht.
A civil case related to the alleged harassment was filed Oct. 26, 2020, and ended on July 21, with a consent judgment and protective order against Moreno, directing him not to “stalk, molest or communicate with” the alleged victim and to stay at least 500 feet away from her. The order lasts through July 2022.
“Basically, my client and (the accuser) agreed that my client would have no contact with (the accuser) for a period of one year,” Page said in the Oct. 18 email.
“Pursuant to this judgment, no specific findings of fact were made and Mr. Moreno did not admit to the allegations. Mr. Moreno, in an effort to allow the parties to put this behind them, simply agreed to not have contact with (the accuser),” Page said.
A criminal setting hearing in the criminal case is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10, before Jefferson County Div. 12 Associate Circuit Judge Tony Manansala.