LATHROP – A male teacher at Lathrop High School has reportedly resigned while the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the reason behind the resignation.

Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Les Garcia has confirmed to the Manteca Bulletin that the department’s Investigation Unit is looking into an alleged “inappropriate conduct with a (female) student at Lathrop High School” by the teacher. Garcia did not disclose the name of the teacher and did not provide any further information.

“The investigation is ongoing so there’s no additional detail that I can share with you at this time. No arrest has been made,” Garcia said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

“It is inappropriate to disclose anything at this time because it’s in the investigation stage,” said Garcia who added that he only learned about the teacher’s reported resignation when he was contacted by “another media source.”

Interim Lathrop High School Principal Bob Wallace, who was also contacted by telephone on Tuesday, said he was not aware of a teacher’s resignation that is connected with a Sheriff’s ongoing investigation.

There’s only one teacher that he knows of who has submitted her resignation,  he said, and she is resigning because “she is leaving for Florida” where her physician husband is being transferred.

The teacher, Ezra Gonzales, is a mathematics teacher at Lathrop High, Wallace said. She submitted her resignation a month ago and the school is currently advertising for her replacement, the principal said.

That is “the only resignation I’m aware of,” he said.

Manteca Unified School District Personnel Director Margaret Barnett also said in a telephone interview that “we don’t have a teacher that’s resigned because of an investigation.”

However, she said without identifying the teacher or the school, “we’ve had a teacher placed on administrative leave” with pay, which is “a fairly normal thing to do if there’s an allegation made of the teacher.

 “We have to take the students’ and the employee’s rights into account,” Barnett said.

Until the teacher is charged, the administrative leave is with pay, she added.

However, the Manteca Bulletin has learned from sources who did not want their name disclosed but are from the school or are familiar with the situation, that the teacher who reportedly resigned in connection with the Sheriff’s investigation is Steve Box who taught basic engineering classes at Lathrop High. He is being described as in his 40s, married with three young children, the oldest of whom is 11. He and his family live outside of San Joaquin County and that his wife is a homemaker.

One former student who described Box as “a really nice guy” said “I don’t believe it,” referring to the alleged incident that touched off the investigation.

According to the story heard by the source as to what happened, the teacher “apparently was driving this girl home and he grabbed her hand and tried to kiss her.” The source said this is the story that the accuser has been sharing with others on her Facebook page, prompting the source to comment: “I just don’t think a victim should be talking about that on Facebook publicly.”

The victim is reportedly either a junior or a senior at Lathrop High.