Popular Teacher Arrested for Sex With Underage Girl Same Day He Appeared on Local TV Station - Jose Bernardo Fanjul, West High

The fortunes of teacher Jose Bernardo Fanjul, 45, at West High School in Utah rose and fell quickly this week. On Tuesday morning he was interviewed by KSL-TV in Salt Lake City on his lesson plan to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. Later that day though, police showed up at the school to arrest him for allegedly having sex with a female student from March to July of this year, sometimes actually at the school! To add insult to injury, Fanjul is also an award-winning teacher and was named as the American Star of Teaching from Utah. Which makes all of this even more bizarre. Here's more on the story from KSL:

Police arrested Jose Bernardo Fanjul, 45, at West High after school Tuesday. None of the students even knew he had been arrested. The news came as a shock because Fanjul is one of the most well-liked teachers there.

Student Joel Organasta said, "He's very popular. All the people I know, know him." But police say Fanjul crossed the line with one student. Jail documents say he engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl between March and July of this year. She told police they had numerous sexual encounters after hours at West High and at other places. Police say they're working with her and her father.

Fanjul has also appeared on Eyewitness News, once in 2006 to warn Utah Latinos about a scam targeting their community; then again just Monday, on Eyewitness News at 6:30. Fanjul highlighted his lesson plan on the September 11th terrorist attacks. Fanjul said, "I teach it in the context that this is something that's happening in the world nowadays, and this is how we deal with it."

Organasta says Fanjul showed part of the Talking Point segment in their class Tuesday morning. He had no idea that by the end of the school day, his teacher would make the news again, for this. "Everybody knows him, and he doesn't look like someone that would do that," Organasta said. Fanjul was arrested on multiple counts of forcible sexual abuse and forcible sodomy. The school district says he is on paid administrative leave.