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Alamogordo private school principal arrested on six counts of sexual assault involving a child

Trevor Lavalais, principal and director of the Legacy Christian Academy, a private school in Alamogordo, has been arrested on six counts relating to sexual assault involving a child.

According to reporting done by the Alamogordo Daily News, Lavalais has been charged with one count of criminal sexual penetration of a minor, three counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor, and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minior per court records.

According to records, on February 9th, a 12-year-old student at Legacy Christian told a counselor that the principal made the child watch pornography.

The counselor allegedly told the child she would have to report the incident, but the child did not want it to be reported.

Court records indicate that the child had been experiencing incidents with Lavalais since August 2021.

Alamogordo Police conducted an interview with the child on February 10th.

Court records also indicate that the child said that in addition to the pornographic videos, Lavalais had also committed secual acts on the child.

Parents of the child told law enforcement that their child had been acting differently and their grade began to change around September-November 2021.

In December, the parents found suicide note written by their child, and promply sought counseling.

Search warrants have been issued to find Lavalais’ laptop and tablet, which allegedly contain the pornographic films that were viewed.

Lavalais has denied the allegations against him, telling police he had been substitute teaching all week.

Legacy Christian Academy declined to comment amid an on-going investigation.

Lavalais has been booked and is currently being held at Otero County Detention Center.

As it currently stands, no court date has been set.

Gino Gutierrez was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A lifelong resident of New Mexico, he found interest in broadcasting after falling in love with sports. He attended the University of New Mexico, where he majored in multimedia journalism. While at UNM, he worked the New Mexico Daily Lobo, serving as both sports and managing editor. In addition to working at KSFR, Gino is a freelance photojournalist and can also be heard providing play-by-play commentary for the NA3HL New Mexico Ice Wolves.