Married Oxford Academy history teacher Christopher John Ontiveros did not tolerate “defiance of authority” or students who didn't “support a respectful class environment,” according to course curriculum guidelines he distributed at the acclaimed Cypress high school.
Yet, during a preliminary hearing today inside a Westminster courtroom, an Orange County sex crimes prosecutor and police detectives revealed portions of their evidence that in 2009 Ontiveros, then 42, violated his own standards by using his classroom [and his SUV] for an illegal, five-month sexual affair with a 17-year-old student.
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We know the victim is likely a Korean American teen because in alleged telephone text messages seized by cops and entered into evidence Ontiveros told the girl how excited he felt when she “whispered” Korean to him as he licked her body and genitals.
“I want to tongue every inch of you because I love you,” read one message.
Other alleged messages included:
“Today I want to tear your shorts off and rub your wetness” and “I want you to spread your legs wide for me so that I can kiss you everywhere.”
Despite the embarrassing prosecution presentation, Ontiveros–who has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges–appeared confident and was surrounded by a large, supportive group of loved ones.
Based on questions at the hearing by his defense lawyer, Ontiveros is likely to try to undermine the girl's credibility at trial. She's given conflicting stories detailing everything from French kissing, fondling, digital penetration and oral copulation. In the view of law enforcement, the discrepancies were due to the victim's initial reluctance to share events with two male police detectives.
The defense didn't offer any exculpatory evidence or explanations for the bombshell text messages.
Superior Court Judge William Evans ruled that he'd heard enough “satisfactory evidence” to accept the charges as credible. Evans then ordered the teacher, who is free on $100,000 bail, to appear for his formal arraignment on Dec. 16.
If Ontiveros is convicted, he could land in a California prison for more than half a decade.
If the charges fail, he could be owed back his previously good reputation.
–R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
rs**********@oc******.com
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.
