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11 News found out that registered sex offender has been attending class at Pasadena High School.

At a time in their lives when most students strive to get their faces in the year book, Valentine Lopez had already had his picture taken, but a happy memory it is not. 

This summer, the 18-year-old’s mug shot went up on the state’s sex offender website for a sex crime against a child three years ago.  

Police have arrested Lopez again, saying he sexually abused a 14-year-old girl he met on the Web site myspace.com.  

KHOU-TV

Valentine Lopez

“It’s real bad,” said parent Mary Maciel.

That was her reaction when she found out the registered sex offender had been attending school with her daughter. 

“In a way, the school needs to be more aware of the stuff that’s going on and check more of these things,” said Maciel.

The school district says it was already aware of his conviction from three years ago, when he was 15 but there was nothing it could do to separate Lopez from other students.

“If it is a juvenile sex offense, then we are still required by law to provide educational services to that student,” said Pasadena ISD Superintendent Kirk Lewis.

The superintendent says principals are routinely told when a sex offender enrolls, but they’re not required to notify parents.

However, newer laws will allow the district to send Lopez to an alternative program for this latest charge, if he returns.