Teacher at troubled California school arrested on molestation charges

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

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

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

The investigation was ongoing for three years as officials interviewed the alleged victim.

On Thursday, Mester was arrested again and booked on suspicion of two counts of lewd acts with a minor between 14 and 15 as well as 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 repeated episodes of inappropriate relationships between teachers and students over the last 12 years.

In 2012, a 41-year-old former teacher was arrested after an 18-year-old former student at a different school alleged he had 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 molestation charges. Bryan Rogers, a social studies teacher at the school since 2012, was accused of annoying or molesting a minor, though it was not clear if the victim was a student, according to KOVR-TV in Stockton.