A former Hickory Public Schools teacher was arrested in late August and charged with 28 counts of sexual offenses involving a child, some of which date back to 2015.

DELFIO LUSGARDO DELGADO

Delfio Lusgardo Delgado, age 54, was arrested on Aug. 26 and was charged with 20 Counts of Statutory Rape of a Child and Eight Counts of Indecent Liberties with a Child.

The indecent liberties charges date to alleged incidents that occurred between 2015-19, which overlaps with the time period Delgado was employed as a teacher. It is unclear if any of the charges involved a student.

Statutory rape of a child is a class B1 felony with a sentence of 144 months to life without parole per instance.  The indecent liberties charges are a Class F felony with a possible sentence of 10 to 41 months in prison per offense.

Delgado was issued a $450,000 secured bond, which he has not posted, and remains in custody at the Iredell County Detention Facility.

Statesville Police Department indicted at the time of Delgado’s arrest that the investigation had been triggered by a Jan. 2021 report of sex offenses involving a child.

Hickory Public Schools employed Delgado from Aug. 2017 through June 2019. Delgado had taught at Hickory High School. The district indicated Delgado resigned when he apparently moved to Statesville in 2019.

At least one report claims Delgado is a Mexican national, however, this website has been unable to confirm the claim beyond a reference related to teaching in Winston-Salem found in a PTSA memo. The memo had no year listed, only that it was a Sept. 23 update.

“Delfio Delgado joins our foreign language department as a Spanish I instructor,” says a PTSA memo from R.J. Reynolds High in Winston-Salem. “Mr. Delgado comes to RJR after teaching for three years in his native Ecuador and 11 years in Iredell County. He graduated with a B.A. from Technical University of Manabí, Ecuador.”

The memo excerpt implies that Delgado went to work in Winston-Salem after leaving Hickory in 2019. A search of the Winston-Salem district’s website did not locate Delgado as an active employee.

Delgado does have an active teaching license on file with the state:

Current Date: 11/07/2021 10:13 AM
License Number: 962822
Name: DELGADO, DELFIO LUSGARDO
License Type: Educator
License Status: Current
Expiration Date: 06/30/2024
Effective Date: 07/01/2019
License Area(s): Spanish K-12

Delgado also has no North Carolina voter registration record on file, either active or denied.

Including Delgado, this website has tracked 20 educator arrests in 2021.