SAN ANTONIO – “He was someone we trusted," said the mother of the alleged victim of 49-year-old Gabriel Ginithan about the most disturbing allegation of indecency with a child against him.
The mother will not be identified to protect her daughter’s privacy.
Ginithan was a special education teacher in the Northeast Independent School District at Jose M. Lopez Middle School, where he also tutored other children.
Although Ginithan’s Texas Educator Certificate is currently valid for another three years, he is under review by the Texas Education Agency Educator Investigations Division.
The mother said she found out what was allegedly happening by mistake.
“We have passwords on all our computers. We don’t allow any electronics that we don’t have a monitoring device attached,” she said.
After her daughter walked away from her home computer, her mother said she checked the screen and discovered emails allegedly from Ginithan. She said there was nothing inappropriate, but what she found odd was that they were from allegedly from Ginithan’s personal computer.
“I don’t believe a teacher should be using personal email to talk to students,” she said.
The mother said she later found disturbing entries in a journal she didn't know her daughter kept.
The mother said she then emailed Ginithan telling him that she didn’t think it was appropriate for an adult man to be privately communicating with a young girl.
She said after she did that, her daughter had an emotional breakdown.
Her mother said her daughter told her, “I was going to ruin his life. How dare I? What a horrible person I was, it was none of my business.”
Soon after that, her daughter tried to commit suicide, she said.
The mother said when she showed the principal what she’d found, the principal told her that teachers are only allowed to use school computers to reach students and parents.
She said the principal immediately removed Ginithan from the classroom and initiated the investigation that would include school district police and Child Protective Services.
The mother said she believes the majority of the emails were sent by her daughter accessing her account on the school computer.
“The district has firewalls that prevent students from going to inappropriate sites, but a Gmail account would be allowed to be accessed," said Aubrey Chancellor, NEISD spokewoman.
The mother said that she eventually plans to ask Texas lawmakers what more can be done to help guard against similar situations. She also said she encourages parents to not only monitor their children’s online activity, but to also look for possible warning signs.
The mother said she suspected her daughter may have had a crush on Ginithan because she often talked about him and what he did that day.
“There wasn’t anything else that mother could have done beyond paying attention, paying close attention, and once she did find out about those emails, she reacted appropriately," said Randy McGibney, chief program officer at ChildSafe, an agency that responds to cases of abuse, trauma and neglect.
He also said it’s vital that parents “trust their gut instinct” if they suspect any abuse.
McGibney said 97 percent of ChildSafe cases involve adults known and trusted by the victims and their families.