Raincross High teacher arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex from minor
Riverside police arrested a community college and high school employee from Laguna Niguel on Tuesday, Dec. 4, on suspicion of soliciting a minor for sex.
Authorities learned of a male suspect who had offered to pay a person who was presenting themselves as a girl under the age of 18 for a sexual encounter, according to a news release from the Riverside Police Department. Investigators traced the messages to a location in Riverside and contacted the man in question, who was identified as Thomas Borden, 61 and taken into custody.
Borden worked as a full-time resource teacher at Raincross High School, according to Justin Grayson, a spokesman for the Riverside Unified School District. He said the suspect had worked for the district since 1991. Borden also served as a walk-on swim coach at Riverside City College, according to Robert Schmidt, a spokesman for the college.
“The district is extremely concerned by the allegations against Mr. Borden,” said Grayson in a statement issued Thursday, Dec. 6. “Mr. Borden has been placed on administrative leave.”
Grayson said that “any teacher convicted of a sex offense is automatically terminated.”
Borden also was placed on leave from his duties at Riverside City College after he was taken into custody, said the school’s Associate Vice Chancellor, Peggy Cartwright, in a statement.
He was arrested at 1299 Galleria at Tyler at about 5 p.m. Tuesday on suspicion of contacting a minor with the intent to commit a felony, arranging a meeting with a minor to commit lewd acts and soliciting a minor for prostitution services.
He was held on $50,000 bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center and later released Wednesday, Dec. 5. Borden is scheduled to appear in court at the Riverside Hall of Justice on Friday, Dec. 7.
Authorities suspect there may be additional victims. Police are asking anyone with information that may aid investigators to contact Detective L. Blaszak at 951-353-7205 or LBlaszak@riversideca.gov .