Charges dropped against former Red Rock Canyon School employee

Prosecutors have dropped child abuse charges against a former staff member of a now closed school for troubled teens in St. George.

Thirty-nine-year-old Gino Sanchez was accused of punching a 17-year-old girl and pulling her hair during a riot last April at Red Rock Canyon School.

Several students and other staffers told police that violence escalated after Sanchez called a group of young girls at the school derogatory names.

He was the only staff member charged in connection with the riot.