Camarillo teacher admits sex charges--Emi

**I use to live here and would have gone to this school. God, I hope my guy friends who I hung out with all the time weren't victims of him.**

Pridgen enters guilty pleas to 23 counts

By Aron Miller, [email protected] November 9, 2002

Chad Pridgen, the Camarillo High School teacher accused of having sex parties with students at his home, pleaded guilty Friday to more than half of the criminal counts against him.

In an agreement reached by prosecutors and Pridgen's attorney, he pleaded guilty to 17 felonies and six misdemeanors in connection with the 11 teenage boys he victimized between 2000 and 2001. He originally was charged with 39 counts.

Pridgen told his attorney last week he wanted to plead guilty, ending nine months of speculation on whether the case would get to a preliminary hearing, where the victims would have to testify.

During a 10-minute hearing in Ventura County Superior Court, the 31-year-old science teacher and soccer coach admitted to a number of sex crimes and contributing to the delinquency of minors.

When Deputy District Attorney Douglas Ridley asked if he was entering his plea freely and voluntarily, he said solemnly, "Yes, I am."

The plea means Pridgen is looking at a maximum of 13 years in prison and another seven years in Ventura County Jail when he is sentenced Jan. 17. Had a jury convicted him of all the original counts, he would have faced more than 30 years in prison.

He also must register as a sex offender, a label that stays with him for life, and pay an undetermined amount of restitution to the victims. He remains free on $500,000 bond and is still on unpaid administrative leave from his teaching job.

"I'm very, very glad we were able to resolve this case without anyone having to testify," Ridley said after the proceedings. He attributed the guilty plea to "solid evidence and really good work" by sheriff's detectives Scott Peterson and Robert Yoos.

Pridgen left the courthouse with a police escort and without commenting. When asked for a statement, his attorney, Paul Takakjian, said, "I think it's best for everyone involved if I wait until another time."

Pridgen was arrested in February after one of the victims came forward, which inspired more victims to talk to police.

Besides the victims' accounts of what happened inside the teacher's Camarillo home, investigators obtained a tape-recorded conversation between Pridgen and one of the boys in which he admitted committing the offenses.

Court documents filed by detectives describe a manipulative Pridgen luring male students to his Appletree Avenue home with alcohol and pornography. Eventually, the parties escalated.

In one case, Pridgen wanted to embarrass a student who he thought had vandalized his home by making him perform a sex act with another student, according to the court filings.

Soon after his arrest, dozens of students attended a bail hearing in court to show their support for him. Some even considered him one of their favorite teachers.

That scene contrasted sharply with Friday's as a half-dozen of the victims sat in the courtroom and watched Pridgen admit he molested them. None of the victims would comment.

He pleaded guilty to crimes committed as early as the fall of 2000. According to a pending civil lawsuit against him and the Oxnard Union High School District, a student came forward as early as 1999 to report the misconduct.

Attorney Kevin DeNoce represents seven of the victims in the lawsuit. He called Pridgen's guilty plea "good news."

"It's the first step in getting closure for these molested children," he said. "The final step will come when the school district accepts responsibility in this case."

School administrators could not be reached for comment, but Barbara Warlick, president of the high school's parent-teacher-student association, said she was "pleased" and "happy" with the case's outcome.

"I think for somebody to stand up and own up to something that they've done is a good example," she said.

~* Emi *~

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