Santa Cruz County middle school principal arrested on rape charges
WATSONVILLE — Police arrested the principal of Edward A. Hall Middle School on suspicion of multiple felony sexual assault allegations last week.
Dagoberto Garcia, 58, who has served at the helm of Watsonville’s oldest junior high school since March 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile, faces charges of rape of an intoxicated woman, sexual penetration of an intoxicated person and oral copulation of an intoxicated person. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office arrested Garcia on Thursday but his name was no longer listed in Friday’s inmate logs for the Santa Cruz County Jail.
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District is placing Garcia on paid administrative leave during the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office investigation, interim superintendent Murry Schekman wrote in a letter to district families that was shared with the Sentinel.
“An interim administrator will be placed at EA Hall to ensure there is no interruption of instruction or leadership,” Schekman added. “The safety and well-being of our community remain our top priority. We are cooperating fully with authorities and will provide updates as appropriate. We will have counseling services available on-site for those in need.”
According to his Linked in resume and media reports, including a 1990 Sentinel feature, Garcia earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UC Santa Cruz and a doctorate of education degree from the University of the Pacific. He worked for five years as a superintendent in a single-school Tulare County school district, then a year as a Tulare County junior high school principal, before working as a Kern County school district superintendent. He held the latter position for two of the three years of his contract before resigning for undisclosed reasons in 2019, according to reports. Details of his employment between 2019 and his local hiring in 2022 were not immediately available.
Sheriff’s Office detectives are seeking additional victims in the early stages of their investigation. They are asking anyone with information to contact the office’s non-emergency dispatch line at 831-471-1121.