CAPE MAY, NJ – Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland and Chief Jay Prettyman of the Ocean City Police Department announce the arrest of 34-year-old Ricardo Valle, a resident of Seabrook, Texas, on sexual assault charges.
On February 27, 2021, Valle was charged with two counts of Sexual Assault, a crime of the second degree; one count of Official Misconduct, a crime of the second degree; one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a crime of the second degree; and one count of Criminal Sexual Contact, a crime of the fourth degree.*
These charges were a result of a joint investigation conducted by the Ocean City Police Department and the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit after it was reported that Valle allegedly sexually assaulted a student in 2016 while he was a teacher at the Ocean City High School.
On February 27, 2021, Valle was arrested in Texas by members of the Seabrook Police Department and is currently being lodged at the Harris County Jail, pending extradition hearings. Valle is not currently a teacher at Ocean City High School.
Prosecutor Sutherland advises a person convicted of a second-degree crime is subject to a term of imprisonment of 5 to 10 years in New Jersey State Prison. A person convicted of a third-degree crime is subject to 3 to 5 years and a fourth-degree crime can have a sentence of up to 18 months in State Prison.
Prosecutor Sutherland advises this is an on-going investigation and urges anyone who has additional information relating to this investigation to contact the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office at 609-465-1135, or the Ocean City Police Department at 609-525-9131, or report it anonymously through the Cape May County Sheriff’s Tip Line at cmcsheriff.net and click on anonymous tip, or through the Cape May County Crime Stoppers, 609-889-3597.