Portland high school teacher sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for attempting to meet minor for sex

A now-former high school teacher from Portland, Oregon has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and 10 years of supervised release for attempting to meet up with a minor for sex. Edward Hernandez-Corchado, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor earlier this year.

After being arrested in 2022, Hernandez-Corchado admitted to engaging with minors for sex both before and after becoming a teacher. In January 2023, Hernandez-Corchado was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor. He pleaded guilty to the count in January 2024.

The US Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon said in a press release that an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl from Bend, Oregon set up a Snapchat in November 2022 and shortly after began communicating with Hernandez-Corchado. Hernandez-Corchado sent sexually explicit communications to the officer who he believed was an underage girl, and according to the Oregonian, set up plans to meet up with her at a Target in the town before renting a motel room for them to share.

On November 11, 2022, Hernandez-Corchado drove to Bend and was arrested by officers awaiting his arrival. He then told investigators that he had met up with two other 16 and 17-year-old girls in 2016 or 2017 in Salem, Oregon for sex, and admitted to possessing child pornography. In 2023, he began talking with a 14-year-old girl online and solicited 10 sexually explicit images.

"He said he knew all of this was wrong, but he could not help himself," federal prosecutor Judith Harper noted at the time. "He's leading a double life. He's a teacher by day. He's trolling the internet by night. We know he's been willing to sneak around and risk very important things in one's life to do this. He's willing to risk his career. His actions are even more disturbing because he has worked as a high school teacher since 2019 and is a mandatory reporter of child abuse crimes."

Hernandez-Corchado taught at Reynolds High School, from whence he graduated himself. He was placed on administrative leave as soon as officials became aware of his conduct.
 

A 2014 Oregonian Academic Achievers article highlighted then-high schooler Hernandez-Corchado, who said he wanted to go to college for mathematics. He said that he was a National Honor Society student as well as a volunteer with a local Catholic Church, adding that he would be "a first generation high school graduate and university student which took nothing but passion for learning and the will to succeed."