A California high school teacher who was fired for “inappropriate communication” with an underage pupil has been arrested after he was caught in the same girl’s bedroom, according to cops.
Patrick John Mester, 65, was fired by Enochs High School in March 2021 after he was arrested for “inappropriate communication” with the girl, who was 16 at the time, according to the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office, which did not detail the alleged messages.
The band teacher was released on $5,000 bail — just to be caught seven months later “in that same student’s bedroom by the student’s mother,” the sheriff’s office said.
Mester was finally arrested again last Wednesday, three years after he was allegedly caught creeping in the girl’s room. The lengthy investigation had been “trailing since 2021,” with the arrest following “several interviews” with the girl, the sheriff’s office said.
“Serious cases like this need to be carefully built over time,” the sheriff’s office told SFGate, defending the long delay before Mester’s arrest and charges.
The fired teacher was charged with two counts of lewd acts with a minor and two counts of attempting to meet with a minor for lewd purposes.
Mester had worked for the school district since 2003 and worked at two different high schools as a music teacher over the course of his tenure until staying full-time at Enochs High in 2008, according to the Modesto Bee.
At the time of his original arrest, Modesto City Schools said it “took immediate action to ensure he has zero contact with students, as well as revoked his right to visit our facilities. This directive will continue to be in place as the criminal matter proceeds,” in a press statement.
Mester completed all pre-employment requirements, including fingerprint clearance and background checks, even receiving annual training on harassment and child abuse reporting while he was a teacher, the district said.
The school has been under fire for several instances of inappropriate conduct between teachers and minors over the years.
In 2012, a former teacher, James Hooker, 41, was arrested after a former student at a different school alleged he had had sexual contact with her 14 years prior when she was 17.
Hooker had just moved in with another former 18-year-old Enoch student, Jamie Powers, at the time of his arrest, according to NBC.
In 2023, 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.
Mester is being held in a Modesto detention center and will appear in court on October 30. His bail has been set at $650,000, court records show.