John Jefferson
Inset: Patrick Mester (Modesto Police Department). Background: Enochs High School (Google Maps).
A now-former teacher in California is behind bars after he was found in a teenage girl’s bedroom, authorities said.
Patrick John Mester, 65, stands accused of two counts each of arranging to meet with a minor for lewd purposes and lewd acts with a minor who is 14 or 15 years old, according to Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office records.
The defendant was originally arrested in 2021 — promptly causing him to lose his job as a teacher at James C. Enochs High School in Modesto, a large city roughly 80 miles west of Oakland.
The criminal investigation took substantially longer.
On Wednesday, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office Special Victim’s Unit arrested the ex-band teacher again for “lewd and lascivious acts against a minor,” according to a press release.
In March 2021, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, the defendant was briefly arrested by the Modesto Police Department over suspicion of annoying or molesting a child under the age of 18. Bail was set at $5,000, and Mester was eventually released.
At the time, he was suspected of having an inappropriate relationship or communication with a student, according to The Modesto Bee. Authorities identified the student in question as a 16-year-old girl.
Details about that incident were scarce.
But the implication alone led to his firing.
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In a statement released then, Modesto City Schools said they “took immediate action to ensure he has zero contact with students and revoked his right to visit our facilities. This directive will continue to be in place as the criminal matter proceeds.”
The defendant was employed by the school district since 2003 — initially as a music teacher at a different high school. Then, he split duties between the two schools. In 2008, he shifted over to Enochs. Officials told the paper he passed all relevant background checks and received regular training on child abuse and harassment.
Upon his release on the relatively minor charge, however, Mester allegedly sought out the then-16-year-old girl yet again.
“In October 2021, a second investigation was initiated by the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office after Mester was discovered in that same student’s bedroom by the student’s mother,” the sheriff’s office said. “Several interviews were conducted with the victim after the incident. Since then, the Sheriff’s Office has been working with the District Attorney’s Office.”
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Since Mester’s second arrest, the girl at the center of the case helped authorities with “active and ongoing investigations,” a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office told SFGate — adding: “Serious cases like this need to be carefully built over time.”
The defendant is being detained on $650,000 bail.
He is slated to appear in court on Oct. 30.
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