Chaparral Teacher Investigated for Sex With Student Claim

A teacher is being investigated for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old student.

The district put the man on paid leave on April 20, three days after the sheriff's department opened an investigation into the accusation, according to Temecula Valley Unified School District spokesperson Melanie Norton.

The District Attorney's office is reviewing the case but has not pressed charges at this time, according to DA spokesperson John Hall.

The man was investigated for alleged "inappropriate relationships with female students and making inappropriate comments to female students," according to a search warrant affidavit.

Patch will not name the man unless charges are pressed against him.

The investigation began with an anonymous phone call on April 17 when the school's principal, Gil Compton, called the sheriff's department, according to Detective Darin Gray.

The school got an anonymous phone call about a female having a sexual relationship with a teacher. The caller gave the teacher and the students' names.

A school counselor interviewed the 17-year-old alleged victim. She admitted to having a strange relationship with the teacher, but she made no mention of having sex with him.

"(The alleged victim) stated there were things in her relationship with (the suspect) that made her feel uncomfortable," Gray wrote in the affidavit.
Gray interviewed the alleged victim on April 18 at Chaparral High, and she said they started a personal relationship when she was a sophomore.

"During her sophomore year, she did not turn in an assignment due to a problem at home," Gray wrote. "She started to cry when explaining the situation to (the teacher). (He) excused her from the assignment and told her if she ever needed to talk, she could talk to him."

The two grew closer as the year went on, and at the end of the year, the teacher gave the girl his phone number and told her to text him if she needed anything, the detective wrote.

The girl texted the teacher in July, 2011, because she needed someone to talk to, and they continued to text each other until the day before the investigation began.

Some of the text messages made her uncomfortable, the girl told the investigator. "She told me over the last few months, the problems at home had resolved and she felt she did not need to talk to him anymore, but he continued to text her," Gray wrote. "She told me the text(s) were things such as have a good day and you are special. She told me she started to feel uncomfortable because he kept texting her."

The suspect was the girl's teacher when school went back in session in fall, 2011, and the teacher treated the girl with special attention. "During that class, (the teacher) would often give her candy and other treats, but not other students. (The victim) would visit his classroom before school, during break, lunch time and after school," Gray wrote. "(The man) would hug her as she was leaving on a regular basis. She told me on three different occasions when she was leaving his classroom, (the teacher) kissed her on the top of her head."

The teacher would also often tell her he "loved her" as she left the room.

The teacher also invited the girl to his home for dinner. Her parents agreed, only if the teacher's wife was present when she was driven to and from his home in Quail Valley. On the first occasion, the wife picked both the teacher and student up from Chaparral, but on the second occasion, the teacher drove the student alone.

Gray interviewed the teacher on April 18, and he declined to make any statement without an attorney present.