On Thursday, Sep. 25, Austin ISD sent out an email stating that the U.S. Marshals Service arrested regional custodial specialist Agustin Ibarra Lopez on 10 counts of indecency with a minor, which constitutes a first degree felony. Ibarra Lopez was subsequently indicted in Caldwell County. The child was not an AISD student, per AISD’s press release on Thursday. 

Ibarra Lopez served as a specialist for the Northeast region of AISD, which covers McCallum as well its feeder middle schools, Lamar, Kealing and Webb, and its feeder elementary schools. The investigation remains active, and Austin ISD police have yet to ascertain whether or not Ibarra Lopez engaged in inappropriate conduct with any AISD students. 

Ibarra Lopez also worked at Bowie, Akins and Anderson High Schools, as well as Mendez Middle School and Casey Elementary, each for short stints, with the longest being Akins from 2018-21 and the shortest being Casey, for one month (May 2022.) As part of his role as a regional custodial specialist, in which he served from 2024-25, Ibarra Lopez visited each school in the Northeast region once a month. While he remains an AISD employee, he has been placed on leave, pending investigation.

School resource officer David James, who has worked for AISD for a year and a half and started working at McCallum in April 2025, said he’d never dealt with a crime of this magnitude in AISD.

“My experiences have only been with student to student allegations,” James said. “Penalties generally differ- usually juvenile detention. But the procedures are the same- getting both the offender and victim’s side of the story. We’d also get both the offender and victim’s parents involved.”

James said that the protocol for dealing with sexual assault and harassment is fairly straightforward, but the emotional tension of the situation isn’t.

“If we get the call, we’d first talk to the victim-the child- and get their story, interview, get all the facts and interview the parents as well,” James said. “Then, we’d provide victim services. Our detectives would get involved after the initial interview. Once the victim’s side is complete, we would then investigate the person who’d done the offense. We’d need to establish probable cause or evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to ensure they were guilty.”

James added that AISD makes a concerted effort to handle sexual assault and predation with appropriate gravity, sensitivity and diligence.

“The Human Resources department and the Professional and Conduct Standards takes it very seriously,” James said. “They say they need a case number from us immediately and then immediately put the accused under suspension. They also immediately notify Child Protective Services. Depending on the campus, the campus would also be notified through their administration.”

Principal Andy Baxa also stated that he’d never witnessed any crimes at McCallum to this level, but that lower level incidents occasionally arise.

“I’ve never had to deal with anybody being arrested for a felony level offense,” Baxa said. “We’ve had some teachers with minor level issues, but nothing at this level.”

Baxa said that if an offense like this were to occur on campus, there are access points ready for support, both for students involved and the administration. He also said that directives for crises of this nature generally come from AISD Headquarters.

“I would coordinate with my supervisors and they’d give me more guidance on what I need to do and what steps to take,” Baxa said. “We’re fortunate in that we don’t have to make the final decisions on everything- we have higher ups in place. I’d contact my Executive Director, currently Francine Taylor. More than likely, she’d put us in contact with everyone we needed to contact.”

Baxa affirmed gratitude that a crime like this hasn’t occurred on campus in recent memory. He also said that McCallum will keep itself apprised of any further developments on the case.

“To my knowledge, the impact at McCallum was minimal,” he said. “We’ll wait and see. There’s not a whole lot I can say, mainly that we need to support our custodial staff and managers in the absence of the regional specialist.”

If you have information related to the case, contact AISD at 512-414-1703.