CASTRO VALLEY — A former Castro Valley High School music teacher has been charged with sexually abusing a student, alleged crimes that police say were discovered by students at the school before his arrest.
Keita Hasegawa, who taught band at Creekside Middle School before moving to the high school in 2021, was charged with seven felonies, including multiple child molestation charges, a count of meeting a minor for lewd purposes and enhancements alleging he targeted a “vulnerable” victim and abused a “position of trust.”
Jail records indicate Hasegawa is not yet in custody and an Alameda County Sheriff’s spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about whether he’s been arrested.
Hasegawa met the alleged victim when she was an 11-year-old middle school student, according to police, who say the girl told police that he had kissed her when she was just 13. Police allege that the sexual abuse progressed from there after the girl entered high school.
The charged offenses occurred in 2021 and 2022, according to prosecutors. But Hasegawa didn’t come under suspicion until March 2023, when the high school’s principal, Chris Fortenberry, reported to police that Hasegawa admitted to being at the girl’s home while she was going through a mental health crisis, ostensibly to provide “moral support,” according to authorities.
As police explored why a music teacher would have personally gone to a teen girl’s home, they discovered rumors were flying around the high school about Hasegawa pursuing the girl. Some students claimed they’d seen Hasegawa deleting lewd text message conversations between him and the girl, which Hasegawa adamantly denied, prosecutors say. In other texts, Hasegawa allegedly requested the girl record lewd audio of herself for him.
But police say they were able to recover texts in which Hasegawa called her “gorgeous,” and referenced specific past sex acts between them. The girl initially denied anything inappropriate had happened, but later admitted that Hasegawa had molested her in his office on campus and during an incident when they were together off-campus, authorities say.
Hasegawa could be reached for comment and it is unclear if he has retained an attorney. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office filed the charges on Tuesday.
When Hasegawa transferred to Castro Valley High School in 2021, he told the school’s newspaper, The Olympian, he was excited to be around many of the same students he’d known at the middle school.
“Whether it is working with the students in Band or Orchestra, I have taught most of these students in some capacity in the past,” Hasegawa told The Olympian. “It feels great being back with these students and I feel right at home being at Castro Valley High School.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com