Former Lexington kindergarten teacher extradited from Ecuador with child sex charges

A former Lexington County teacher has been extradited back to South Carolina from Ecuador to face child sex charges.

Hianlucas Isturiz Rodriguez, 42, was extradited and arrived in Lexington County Thursday. He is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, according to a statement by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department. Rodriguez, who was known as “Señor Isturiz” at the school, assaulted a Red Bank Elementary student “multiple times” while working at the school in 2016 and 2017, according to police.

Rodriguez was fired in May 2017 after an investigation into the allegations made against him by a female student, according to a statement from Lexington School District One. Rodriguez was a kindergarten immersion teacher at Red Bank Elementary, the school district said.

He taught school in Venezuela for three years before being hired by Lexington 1 in August 2014, district spokesperson Mary Beth Hill told The State in 2017. He taught Spanish at Red Bank Elementary, which had about 550 students at the time. Rodriguez’s salary was $42,873, The State reported.

Rodriguez had been teaching under a visa sponsored by Education Partners International out of North Carolina, The State reported at the time of his firing.

Companies that bring foreign-born teachers to the United States require applicants to undergo criminal background checks in their home countries, a spokesperson for the S.C. Department of Education told The State in 2017. Their educational backgrounds also are examined.

Rodriguez has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in preschool and elementary education as well as education evaluation from the Central University of Venezuela, The State reported.

The sheriff’s department obtained arrest warrants for Rodriguez in 2017 and asked for the public’s help in locating him. They later received a tip from a member of the public the Rodriguez “had fled the country,” the department said. The sheriff’s department worked with the FBI to find Rodriguez.

Rodriguez was arrested over the summer and held in Ecuador while he awaiting extradition, according to the department.

He is being held at the Lexington County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing on Friday.

If convicted on both charges Rodriguez faces a minimum of 50 years in prison.

Clif LeBlanc contributed to reporting.