A former Arvada teacher for reportedly creating and selling child sexual assault material was found to have violated St. Vrain Valley School District policies in 2023 for interactions he had with students at Erie Middle School, and officials recommended the teacher not return to the district.
That finding was not shared with Jefferson County School District when it hired the teacher, according to an arrest affidavit.
SVVSD officials said Wednesday that they were evaluating whether they could fire the teacher, 39-year-old Patricio Alejandro Illanes, when he resigned in late 2023.
Illanes faces 40 counts of sexual exploitation of a child in addition to 10 counts of unlawful practice of occupation or profession, according to a Boulder County Sheriff’s Office release.
Illanes reportedly photographed or took videos of at least 10 students who were minors at four different schools or youth program locations, including Centaurus High School, New Meridian High School and Erie Middle School, over the course of nine years, according to an arrest affidavit. Police believe there are at least five additional students, but officials have not been able to identify them.
In 2023, a school employee reported to an Erie police school resource officer that he had overheard a 14-year-old boy describe an interaction he had with Illanes to another student.
The boy said Illanes had asked him to stay after class to help him with a video project, and the boy agreed, according to the affidavit. Illanes then instructed the boy to remove his shirt and shoes and pretend to be a lifeguard. The student said Illanes told him that he would pretend to chloroform him and instructed the student to pretend to be knocked out.
When Erie police interviewed Illanes, he “provided a similar story” but said he never touched the students inappropriately and that their shirts remained on, according to the affidavit. Illanes gave police the videos he had recorded, which showed the interaction described by the student, but with the student wearing a lifeguard shirt over a long-sleeve shirt.
Two other minors at the school later told police Illanes asked them to help him with a project, then videotaped or photographed them in costumes.
Officials from New Meridian High School and Centaurus High School confirmed some of the students seen in photos had been enrolled at the schools. The officials told police no staff or students at either school had made any formal complaints about Illanes.
In an October 2025 interview with police, Illanes said he did not use the videos for sexual gratification and understood the incident was “not an appropriate thing,” according to the affidavit. Illanes also told police he operated accounts to perform hypnosis on adults, but “certainly not children,” saying he declined requests from anyone under 18. But police say Illanes used those accounts to solicit photos and videos from minors and profited from selling some of that content.
In a search of Illanes’ phone, police found several hundred photos of students clothed but with bare feet, and hundreds more of sexually explicit material of unknown individuals that appeared to be minors. Some of the explicit material could later be determined to be child sexual assault material.
The Erie Police Department’s criminal investigation into the incident determined the allegations against Illanes were “unfounded” and charges were never filed, according to the affidavit.
However, an SVVSD internal investigation found that he had violated district policies and recommended that he “not return” to Erie Middle School or any school in the district.
Illanes resigned in December that year. He was hired to work at Arvada Senior High School in 2024.
When Illanes resigned, SVVSD was evaluating whether it had “sufficient grounds” under state teacher employment laws to fire him, according to Kerri McDermid, the district’s chief of staff and strategic priorities.
Jefferson County School District officials told police they never received the SVVSD internal investigation report, and , had they known about it, they wouldn’t have hired Illanes, the affidavit stated.
When the district hired Illanes, he held a valid teaching license with “no restrictions or flags indicating that previous known conduct was not reported to licensing authorities by prior employer(s),” a Jeffco spokesperson wrote in a statement Thursday.
In July 2024, an Arvada Senior High School administrator spoke with an SVVSD human resources representative, who confirmed Illanes’ dates of employment, but did not disclose concerns or investigations, according to the Jeffco spokesperson. The Arvada administrator conducted another reference check with a previous employer, according to the statement.
SVVSD officials told police Jeffco officials had not asked for the report and that they had been served a court document restricting them from sharing it, but did not provide the court document to police, according to the affidavit.
McDermid said the SVVSD human resources department and Illanes’ former supervisor at Erie Middle School do not have a record of receiving requests for a reference or information from Jeffco officials until October 2025. At that time, the district provided the information it was permitted to disclose under law, she said.
Jeffco officials placed Illanes on administrative leave in October 2025, immediately following Illanes’ interview with police, and later fired him. The district said officials also reported the information to the Colorado Department of Education “to ensure Mr. Illanes would not be considered for employment in another Colorado school district or gain access to students elsewhere.” Such a report, the district said, triggers a licensing investigation that creates a flag within the licensing system that other districts can see during hiring checks.
“What Mr. Illanes is alleged to have done is reprehensible and represents a profound violation of the trust placed in him as an adult in a position of authority with children,” the Jeffco spokesperson said in a statement. “We are angry on behalf of the victims. He deceived them, and he deceived the institutions that employed him. He alone is responsible for his actions.”
