Former Coach at Thousand Oaks High Accused of Having Sex With 2 Students

A former Thousand Oaks High School wrestling coach was arrested Friday morning and charged with having sex with students when he worked at the school.

It is the third arrest of a Ventura County teacher or coach for allegedly having sex with students since February.

Jeffrey S. Magruder, 24, was taken into custody outside his Thousand Oaks home. He is alleged to have had sex with two underage girls at his home after giving them alcohol, but the investigation is continuing, authorities said.

Magruder quit his coaching job at Thousand Oaks High School almost two years ago.

He has been head wrestling coach at Newbury Park High School since then, said Chuck Eklund, director of secondary education for the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

“He is a walk-on coach and not a member of the faculty or regular staff,” Eklund said. Walk-on coaches work only during the athletic season.

Eklund would not say if there were any complaints against Magruder at Newbury Park.

Detectives began investigating Magruder in January after a tip from a school employee.

“The report we got was that he would invite students to his house and give them alcohol, then get involved sexually with them,” sheriff’s spokesman Eric Nishimoto said.

“Right now we have two victims under 18 and no indications of additional students,” he said.

This is the latest in a string of recent arrests involving teachers or coaches and minors.

In early February, Camarillo High School science teacher Chad Wenzlick Pridgen, 30, was arrested on 33 felony and misdemeanor counts that included trying to seduce and have sexual relations with underage male students.

Two weeks later, Andrew Paul Fonseca, a volunteer wrestling coach at Moorpark High School, was arrested on suspicion of having sex with a 14-year-old female student.

Eklund said Magruder had passed all his criminal background checks.

He declined to comment further on the case.

Magruder also worked as an exterminator for a company in Newbury Park.

He faces four charges, including unlawful intercourse with a minor and using alcohol to commit rape.

Magruder was being held in Ventura County Jail on $100,000 bail.