6 NEWS
Vasquez graduates from basic training
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
U.S. Army National Guardsman
Michael A. Vasquez graduated from
basic combat training at Fort Jackson
in Columbia, South Carolina.
The guardsman completed an
intensive, 10-week program that
included training in military
Buckeye teacher sentenced to lifetime probation
By Autumn Jarrett
Maricopa Superior Court Judge
Warren J. Granville sentenced a
Buckeye man October 19 to lifetime
probation for a sexual relationship
with a 17-year-old Swedish foreign
exchange student.
Joshua Schroder, 37, must also
register as a sex offender and abstain
from contacting the victim.
Goodyear police arrested Schroder
on February 13 after the victim’s host
family alerted them about inappropriate
text messages. He was charged with
four counts of sexual conduct of a
discipline and studies, Army core
values, physical fitness and basic
warfare principles and skills.
Vasquez will be designated to
an additional post at U.S. Army
Quartermaster School, Fort Lee,
Virginia, to complete an additional
minor and two counts of contributing
to the delinquency of a child, according
to Maricopa County court documents.
Schroder pleaded not guilty to these
charges, but he accepted a plea deal
on September 12, when four of the six
charges were dismissed. Schroder has
no prior criminal history.
“There are no justifications for my
actions,” Schroder said during the
sentencing. “I voluntarily surrendered
my teaching license to the state, began
counseling and gave my life back to God.”
Schroder was a 10-year Rainbow
WEST VALLEY VIEW NEWS | OCTOBER 25, 2017
14 weeks of advanced individual
training for his military occupational
specialty.
A 2014 Millennium High School
graduate, Vasquez is the son of Ernie
and Mary Ellen Rides of Goodyear.
Valley Elementary School teacher and he
coordinated the foreign exchange program
for Liberty Elementary School District.
His attorney, Adnan Horan, said
Schroder’s four-month relationship
was consensual. He argued for 10
years of supervised probation and no
jail time, acknowledging that Schroder
took full responsibility.
Maricopa County Deputy Attorney
Lacey Gray asked Granville to sentence
Schroder to lifetime probation and
to register as a sex offender. She also
requested that the he not have contact
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Michael Vasquez is a 2014 Millennium High
School graduate. (Photo courtesy Mary Ellen
Rides)
with the victim.
“It might be argued that this was a
lapse in judgment or that this was a
mistake, but as you can see this is the
furthest thing from a lapse in judgment,”
Gray said. “This was something that
was planned and it was something that
happened again and again.”
Granville explained Schroder broke
the trust as an educator.
“Every parent who wants to put their
kid in a program like this is trusting that
their kid is going to be OK and it was
a breach of that trust,” Granville said.
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