Warning: This story contains details about an alleged rape.
A judge today denied a motion to move Jeremy Rene Reyes from jail to home detention. The 20-year-old is accused of raping a 12-year-old girl earlier this month while he was employed as an after-school worker at Everett Middle School.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Brian L. Ferrall also determined that the case will move forward to trial in early April.
Reyes, a worker with the nonprofit Mission Graduates’ after-school program, was arrested on March 5 at Everett Middle School following alleged improper contact with a student. He has been in custody since the arrest.
On March 11, Reyes pleaded not guilty to all charges during his arraignment. His maximum time in prison would be 14 years for the charges, which include three counts of committing a lewd act upon a child, unlawful sexual intercourse and contact with a minor for sexual offense, according to court documents.
A preliminary hearing was held today in Department 13 on the second floor of the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant St. Only Reyes’ mother and two other family members were in the courtroom’s audience.
Reyes showed up in an orange jumpsuit and smiled when saw his family members. Throughout the two-hour hearing, Reyes repeatedly looked back to exchange glances with his family, especially his mother. At one point, Reyes mouthed “Love you” to his mother, who nodded in response.
Deputy public defender Semuteh Freeman, who represents Reyes, said her client was comfortable participating in the hearing in English until a Spanish interpreter was available, saying that Reyes attended school and was educated in English from the age of 13. Two interpreters arrived in the second hour of the hearing and began interpreting the proceedings for Reyes.
Prosecutor Tanisha Gooch summoned two witnesses today: A San Francisco police officer and a sergeant, who both had first-hand information regarding the case.
The first witness testifies about text messages
Officer Bryan Santan responded with his partner to the initial call at 12:45 p.m. on March 5 . He spoke with both Principal Alicia Blacknell and the alleged victim in the principal’s office at Everett Middle School.
Santana said the victim and Reyes had known each other for several months before the alleged rape. They had kissed several times prior to March 5, but had not had a prior sexual relationship. While Santana continued to describe details of the alleged rape, Reyes shook his head.
The purported victim took the bus to 16th and Mission streets, and then walked to meet Reyes at his nearby apartment, where the alleged rape took place, according to what Santana learned. The victim went to school after leaving Reyes’ apartment. Later, she felt physical pain and messaged Reyes.
While being interviewed by Officer Santana on March 5, Blacknell identified Reyes as the “boyfriend” the victim had mentioned to her. Santana also identified Reyes in the courtroom today.
“He acknowledged during his interview that he knew what he was doing was wrong, that the victim was too young, but he did it anyway, because that’s how love works.”
Assistant District Attorney tanisha gooch
On March 5, the alleged victim told Santana, a certified Spanish translator, that her communication with Reyes was in Spanish. Santana saw several screenshots of the victim’s text messages, in Spanish, with Reyes. He told the court that the principal showed him the screenshots, and he saw them again later after obtaining the alleged victim’s phone.
Both public defender Freeman and officer Santana agreed today that the resolution of the screenshots presented as exhibits in court today was so low that they were not legible. Still, Santana described what he could remember of the text messages.
He saw messages, including heart-shaped emojis, in Instagram DMs. He also recalled seeing the background photo of the alleged victim and Reyes’ WhatsApp exchange, which he said both sides could see: “The photo behind the entire series of texts that I was shown appeared to be the victim in a bra, wearing a small pair of jean shorts, looking away from the camera,” Santana said.
He also recalled the 12-year-old and Reyes calling each other pet names, saying “I love you,” and sending emojis of heart shapes and kisses. Once, Reyes even sent a Spanish sentence that could be roughly translated as “I wanna eat you up,” according to Santana.
But not every communique between the alleged victim and Reyes was so light. When the 12-year-old informed Reyes of being in pain after sexual intercourse, court documents list his responses as, “I’m sorry for being so hard” and “It only hurts the first time.”
Santana acknowledged that neither he nor his partner turned their body camera on when they interviewed the 12-year-old on March 5, because of the police department’s policy on such cameras.
The second witness testifies about interview with Reyes
The second witness, Sergeant Daniel Kelly, was assigned the case on March 5, and spoke to the alleged victim about Reyes that evening. According to Kelly, she first met Reyes in late 2023, months before Reyes started working in the after-school program at Everett. When the alleged rape occurred on March 5, the victim was aware that Reyes was working at Everett, and that day was her first visit to Reyes’ apartment.
Kelly said the 12-year-old named three platforms on which she and Reyes had been communicating: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram. The girl’s phone has been turned over to the Crime Scene Investigation’s multimedia evidence unit.
Kelly also interviewed Reyes at Mission Station on March 5 and described Reyes as “calm.” Reyes said he taught art and coached sixth, seventh and eighth grade soccer at Everett. Reyes, who has a young child of his own, said he believed the victim was approximately 16 years old. He also said they were in love with each other; “that nobody has ever made him feel the way Jane Doe has,” said Kelly.
He said “other female students [at Everett] had been essentially throwing themselves at him in a romantic sense, trying to give him hugs, trying to locate him on social media, messaging him [so much] that he had to regularly rebuff them,” said Kelly, recounting a conversation with Reyes.
Reyes acknowledged that he knew the victim was too young to have a sexual relationship with him, Kelly testified.
Kelly has had difficulty locating the address of the apartment where the alleged rape took place. According to the sergeant, Reyes provided one address, while Kelly and his team found another.
“I don’t think he’s a flight risk … because he has a child and mother, and he is co-parenting his child.”
Deputy public defender Semuteh Freeman
The victim received medical care at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
Reyes has been held in jail without bail. “The Defendant is an employee at a middle school, and thus surrounded by potential future victims,” the District Attorney’s Office argued in court documents.
Attorneys of both parties and Judge Ferrall discussed whether Reyes should be moved to home detention, which Ferrall later dismissed, citing a public-safety risk.
Public defender Freeman said that, while Reyes did have a prior misdemeanor conviction in Richmond when he was 18, he has no other criminal record. Freeman said he has been shuttled in and out of foster care facilities since he was 13. Once Reyes was incarcerated, he lost the funds to pay rent for his apartment.
“I’m asking the court to consider the effect of prolonged incarceration on him. I do think that there are other non-carceral ways that the court can ensure public safety,” said Freeman. “I don’t think he’s a flight risk, both because we have a default here, but also because he has a child and mother, and he is co-parenting his child.”
Freeman also noted that the Central American Resource Center of Northern California has been working with Reyes and his mother on asylum claims.
“The people are concerned about public safety,” prosecutor Gooch argued. “He’s making comments that the young girls at this middle school who are in grades six through eight, are throwing themselves at him. He acknowledged during his interview that he knew what he was doing was wrong, that the victim was too young, but he did it anyway, because that’s how love works.”
“I agree he’s not a flight risk, but the risk to public safety, from the evidence I’ve heard, is severe,” said Ferrall, who said the material presented today in court was “extremely troubling.”
“I can’t say that I’m comfortable with a less restrictive alternative of home detention, given what’s happened, and none of which would have been prevented by him being on electronic monitoring in his apartment,” he added, adding that the fact that the alleged rape happened at Reyes’ home rendered home detention a risk.
The judge also mentioned that Reyes has inflicted a potentially lifetime impact on the alleged victim. He also found Reyes’ comments of other girls at Everett throwing themselves at him troubling.
Ferrall discharged the felony charge of sodomy of a person under 18 for lack of evidence. Five felony charges remain.
After the decisions were made, Reyes broke into tears, lowering his head while his shoulders shook uncontrollably. Reyes’ mother, whose eyes were red from a morning of crying, called out words of encouragement to Reyes in Spanish.
Ferrall also determined that he had seen enough evidence for Reyes to be held to answer, and the case will move forward to trial in early April.
The court has prohibited Reyes from coming within 150 yards of the victim or having electronic, written or telephonic contact with the victim, or contacting the victim through a third party other than the attorney.
Students are supposed to feel safe at school. Isn’t Mission Graduates a program to build community and provide a safe, nurturing environment? Please update on what is happening at the district level and with Mission Graduates.
This is so hellish. We have to trust the people at the school not to hurt the kids. This is so horrible.
Horrible, disturbing. How was this person cleared to work with kids?
“Throwing themselves at him?” Jesus Christ! Clearly this guy is a creep. But the real red flag in this situation is that it’s not clear whether anyone in management at Mission Graduates or the SFUSD noticed how an employee at an after school program seemed to enjoy the attention he got from middle school girls a little too much! If this guy is dumb enough to phrase things this way to a judge or a cop, I can’t imagine that he would seem to have the self awareness to not act like such an obvious threat to kids in any other setting!