Teacher at troubled California school arrested on sexual assault charges

A fired high school band teacher was arrested this week and later caught in a former student’s bedroom, according to law enforcement officials.

Patrick Mester was a teacher at Enochs High School in Modesto — where three teachers have been arrested on sexual assault charges in the last 12 years — when he was arrested in March 2021 for alleged “inappropriate communications” with one of his female students and fired by the school.

Seven months later, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office began a new investigation into Mester when he was discovered by her mother in the same girl’s bedroom, the office said.

The investigation lasted three years while officials interviewed the alleged victim.

On Thursday, Mester was arrested again and detained on suspicion of two counts of lewd acts with a minor between the ages of 14 and 15, and two counts of attempting to meet a minor for lewd purposes. His bail was set at $650,000.

Before he was fired, Mester had worked at Enochs High for more than 12 years, according to the Modesto Bee.

The school has come under fire over the past 12 years for repeated cases of inappropriate relationships between teachers and students.

In 2012, a 41-year-old former teacher was arrested after an 18-year-old former student from another school claimed he had sexual contact with her when she was a minor. according to NBC. The teacher, James Hooker, had just moved in with another former 18-year-old student at the time of his arrest.

In 2023, another teacher at the school was arrested on child abuse charges. Bryan Rogers, a social studies teacher at the school since 2012, was charged with molesting or molesting a minor, although it was not clear if the victim was a student. according to KOVR-TV in Stockton.