Molesting Case Victims Sought

Sheriff’s Department detectives are looking for more victims in the case of a San Dieguito High School teacher accused of molesting four students.

George Warner, a social studies teacher, was arrested Saturday at his Encinitas home on suspicion of two felonies and two misdemeanors in the alleged molestation of four teen-age girls, two of whom were his students when the alleged molestation occurred. The other two were former students.

“There is a possibility that there may be additional victims and, if there are, they are encouraged to contact the sheriff’s juvenile services,” Deputy Larry Van Dusen said.

Detective Dana Gassaway said the alleged molestations took place at outings conducted by Warner and San Dieguito High School students over the past year. The outings, though, were not school-sponsored.

“They were actually sponsored by the students and their teacher. It was not a school-sponsored function, although all the participants were in his class,” Gassaway said.

Gassaway said two of the alleged victims have graduated since the molestations occurred, three of them were 17 years old at the time the alleged crimes were committed and the fourth was 15.

Warner, who has been with the school since 1985, was booked into County Jail on suspicion of one count of lewd and lascivious acts on a child 15-years-old, one count of sexual battery on a medicated person and two counts of child molestation. One of the girls had been on prescription drugs that induced drowsiness, Gassaway said.

The Sheriff’s Department began its investigation of Warner last month after one girl told her parents she had been molested. The girl’s parents then notified San Dieguito High School administrators.

The school placed Warner on administrative leave with pay and informed the Sheriff’s Department, Supt. William Berrier said.

“The law required that we take the matter to the authorities, and we did that as soon as the matter was brought to our attention,” Berrier said.

Gassaway said the other three girls were found either by the school or by the Sheriff’s Department.

“It was a word of mouth sort of thing,” Gassaway said. “One student said, ‘Maybe you should talk to so and so,’ and it went on from there.”

Berrier said that Warner’s status with the school district may change after the district receives official written notice of the charges from the district attorney’s office.

Berrier declined to speculate as to what Warner’s position with the school will be, saying “We’ll just have to wait and see what the charges are.”

Van Dusen said the Sheriff’s Department has compiled both physical evidence and corroborating testimony from witnesses in its case against Warner.