CAMARILLO : 2 Girls Testify at Molestation Trial

Two 15-year-old girls testified Monday in an ongoing molestation trial that their Camarillo High School drama teacher hugged them and made them feel uncomfortable during classes.

One girl testified in Ventura County Municipal Court that William Fisher, 42, held her hand and hugged her while she was wearing a bikini during a private play rehearsal last November. During cross-examination by defense attorney George Eskin, the girl said that Fisher was following the same stage directions as the student actor he was substituting for.

Fisher is being tried under a state law that makes it a misdemeanor for someone to “annoy or molest a child under 18.” Eight of his female students complained that he inappropriately hugged them, held their hands or made sexual remarks to them.

On Monday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen M. O’Brien played a videotape for the jury of Fisher showing photographs of himself in women’s clothing to the other 15-year-old girl. Since the trial began on Thursday, she was the fifth girl to testify that Fisher had shown her such photographs in the school’s theater.

In the four cases that the jury saw on videotape, Fisher behaved in a similar manner with each girl: he sat with the girl in chairs facing away from the camera and talked for a few moments about the girl’s school or social life.

The tapes show Fisher producing photographs of himself in women’s clothing, asking the girl to look at them and picking out a favorite picture, then walking out of the camera’s view with the promise, “I’ll be right back.” In each tape, Fisher returns 30 to 90 seconds later and sits down, discusses the girl’s impressions of the photographs, then gathers them up and leaves the theater with her.

No one has testified about who made the tapes. Testimony by prosecution witnesses is expected to continue today.

Fisher pleaded guilty to four counts of misdemeanor child molestation but changed his plea to not guilty last June after learning that he could be sentenced to jail. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.