Edward Moreno, a former Hillsboro R-3 activities director, recently pleaded guilty to harassing a Hillsboro Board of Education member and was placed on probation for two years.
According to court records, on Jan. 27 Moreno, who now teaches and coaches at St. Pius X High School in Crystal City, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree harassment, a misdemeanor, before Jefferson County Div. 12 Associate Court Judge Tony Manansala. On Jan. 28, Moreno received a suspended imposition of sentence and two years of unsupervised probation. Also he was ordered to have no contact with the victim, complete an anger management program and pay court costs.
If Moreno were to violate his probation, he would face “the full range of punishment, which includes up to one year in jail,” said assistant prosecuting attorney Shannon O’Neal.
Attorney Michael Page, who represented Moreno in the case, said to avoid a jury trial, which can result in an unpredictable outcome, he negotiated with the prosecuting attorney for Moreno to plead guilty and receive the unsupervised probation.
“By putting this case behind us, all of Mr. Moreno’s attention can now return to his family and students,” Page said in a letter to St. Pius staff and parents.
Moreno was accused of harassing the Hillsboro school board member in mid-2020, calling the school board member’s cell phone repeatedly and when she answered, either breathing heavily or laughing and then hanging up, according to a probable-cause statement in the case.
Moreno 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.
A civil case related to the harassment of the Hillsboro school board member 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 victim and to stay at least 500 feet away from her. The order lasts through July 2022.