A former West Richland teacher is accused of locking a student in her classroom for 90 minutes in the middle of a school day to make him pray with her.
Rosalinda Torres, 32, is charged in Benton County Superior Court with unlawful imprisonment, a felony, for the April 12 incident at Leona Libby Middle School. She was summoned to appear in court Oct. 31 to enter a plea to the charge.
Torres was upset with the 14-year-old when he cheered after she announced that she might have to call out sick the next day.
The next day, she ended up telling the student to stay after his fourth-hour class and locking the door so no one could enter the classroom.
She allegedly told the boy that “he could not leave the room until they were done praying,” according to court documents.
Torres initially started working at the Richland School District in 2015 as a substitute and was hired permanently in 2017, said Shawna Dinh, the district’s public information officer.
Court documents show she was placed on paid administrative leave immediately after the incident on April 11. Dinh said her contract was not renewed for the 2024-25 school year.
Torres’ LinkedIn profile does not list her as working at a different school district this year.
Teacher gets upset
Court documents claim that Torres got upset on April 11 when the student made a “yes” motion when she said she might miss class the next day because she was feeling sick.
The student apologized, but Torres told the teen’s mother in an email that day that she didn’t think the apology was “sincere or sufficient,” court documents said.
Torres told the boy’s mother that “he needed to do something more to show he appreciated her as a teacher, such as a letter of apology,” court documents said.
The teen’s mom responded the same evening by email, saying she was sorry and would talk to her son about it.
The next day, the teen approached Torres after the fourth period class and apologized again. Torres became emotional, allegedly locked the only door leading out of the room with a key and said they were going to pray.
When the teen said he wasn’t religious, she responded by calling him “Satanas,” the Spanish word for Satan, according to court documents.
She made the teen repeat a prayer in Spanish that he couldn’t understand and at one point said something in English to the effect of, “Get away from me, Satan,” so he moved to back of the classroom, said the documents.
The student repeatedly asked to leave the class or call his mother, but Torres reportedly refused. He didn’t realize that the locked door only prevented people from coming in.
Torres is accused of keeping him in the class through an entire period, so he missed lunch.
He told investigators that his fear was at a 10 out of 10, and he didn’t feel safe with her in the room.
Discovered in the class
As sixth period started, students began to line up in front of the locked door to come into the classroom. Staff members tried to open the door, but found they couldn’t, so they called the principal.
The principal saw the teen and Torres in the room, noting the student looked scared and confused.
Later that day, Torres sent a follow up email to the boy’s mother saying the teen followed up with her and was sincere.
“(She) stated that (the student) did not mean to miss his class, but that the two lost track of time because of the Friday schedule … and the things that (the student) needed to say to (her),” court documents said.
“The defendant said she could see that (the student) was suffering as he spoke to her toward the end of their time together and that both were crying,” she wrote, adding the student likely needed a hug from his mother.
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