Arizona teacher who said ‘hail Satan’ to students has license suspended

The State Board of Education suspended Jesse Ruiz’s license for two years after finding he wrote inappropriate messages in students’ yearbooks.

MESA, Ariz. — A former Mesa High School teacher had his teaching license suspended for two years by the State Board of Education for saying “hail Satan” to students and writing inappropriate messages in yearbooks.

On Monday, the State Board of Education accepted a negotiated settlement agreement with conditions for Jesse Ruiz. His license will be suspended for two years, meaning he will not be able to teach in Arizona for that time.

In October 2023, Ruiz was investigated for dressing up as the devil and stating “hail Satan” multiple times during class. According to documents provided by the state, a concerned parent contacted the district about the situation. In its investigation, officials also discovered Ruiz raised his middle finger while counting off and used profanity.

12News spoke with a student, Nathaniel Hamlet, who was in the classroom that day. Hamlet said he thought it would be a regular day before he walked into class and saw Ruiz. 

“(I got) a pitchfork put in my face,” Hamlet said. “He did it to everyone. He did it to people that he didn’t even know.” 

Hamlet said that he heard Ruiz say “hail Satan” about five or six times and that some people found it funny, but he did not. 

“It just irked me and just didn’t feel right because I believe in God, obviously, but I don’t know, it just ticked me off,” Hamlet said. 

Hamlet’s dad, Chris, was furious about what happened. He filed a complaint with Mesa Public Schools. The next day, Ruiz was escorted out of the building.  

Ruiz was placed on administrative leave and later resigned from Mesa Public Schools a month later.  

Both Nathaniel and Chris Hamlet were initially relieved when they saw that Ruiz’s license had been suspended, believing the outcome was fair.

“I thought, you know what, maybe after two years, he can come back and redeem himself,” Chris said.

However, Chris Hamlet changed his mind after learning why Ruiz’s license was suspended. 

The State Board of Education’s investigation also found that in May 2023, Ruiz wrote inappropriate messages in students’ yearbooks while he was teaching at Skyline High School in Mesa. An employee at the school discovered the messages. The document found some of the messages included Ruiz writing, “[T]hanks for all the free Canes HEHE. Gay Sex… LOL.” and “I am gonna miss the f— out of you . . .”  

Ruiz was also found to have written multiple comments in a female student’s yearbook that included: “You should have run away from home or we should have kidnapped you”; “I think about every day and especially when I found a new… or some new eye candy 😉 on Instagram.”  

“That was the big red flag right there,” Chris Hamlet said. “This is the pattern and it’s very dangerous. They should have stopped him at Skyline. He should have never got to Mesa… I think they need to pull his license. He has no business teaching children.”

Ruiz did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Friday, but previously told 12News that he dressed up as the devil as part of Halloween Spirit Week, with the theme being dynamic duos. Ruiz dressed as the devil and another teacher in a classroom next to his dressed as an angel. However, he did not say at that time that he had said “hail Satan” to students. 

In the documents obtained by 12News. It claims Ruiz’s attorney addressed the situation with the yearbooks. It wrote that Ruiz’s comments did cross “professional boundaries”. However, the attorney also said that the district reinstated Ruiz and the district found no evidence of sexual misconduct.

The suspension will last for two years and Ruiz will be required to complete a prevention and professional boundaries course. 

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