More Sex Charges Filed Against Teacher

Prosecutors have added six felony counts to the growing case against a Camarillo High School teacher accused of sexual misconduct with male students, bringing the total number of alleged victims to 11.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Douglas Ridley is also pushing to increase bail for Chad Wenzlick Pridgen, alleging the 30-year-old science teacher and coach violated the conditions of his release on $250,000 bail last month.

Ridley would not detail the alleged violations, but an order issued March 8 by Superior Court Judge Kevin McGee stipulated that Pridgen not have contact with any minors without their parents’ direct supervision.

An additional order prohibits Pridgen from leaving the state.

Flanked by a few supporters, Pridgen appeared in court Thursday but did not enter a plea on the new charges. An arraignment and bail hearing were set for April 5.

Depending on the outcome of that hearing, Pridgen’s bail could go up or he could be ordered back to jail with no bail, Ridley said.

“I’ll let the court decide how serious the violations are,” he said outside court on Thursday.

Pridgen now faces 39 felony and misdemeanor counts of sex acts with 11 minors, nine of them current or former Camarillo High School students. Ridley said the latest two alleged victims are also teenage boys but they do not attend Camarillo High.

Charges against the teacher include supplying minors with alcohol, showing them pornography and either forcing or coercing them into having oral sex. Pridgen pleaded not guilty to 33 counts last month and will be arraigned on the new charges April 5.

The teacher is on unpaid leave from the Oxnard Union High School District, where he has taught upper-level science courses for the last six years.

Pridgen’s Los Angeles attorney, Paul Takakjian, declined to comment on the developments in the case.

But friends who sat with Pridgen in court Thursday said they don’t believe any of the allegations.

“The whole thing’s a bunch of hooey,” said Christine Tobias, a mother of twin daughters who are former students of Pridgen.

She and others have been trying to help Pridgen find a job while he awaits the outcome of the case, she said. “He’s lost weight and he’s terribly stressed out,” Tobias said. “He’s a great guy. My heart goes out to him.”

Pridgen was arrested Feb. 5 after a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department investigation prompted by one student, now 18.

According to authorities, the investigation found that Pridgen had Camarillo High School students at his house on weekends for parties that often involved alcohol and pornography, which would lead to other sexual behavior.

The behavior ranged from masturbating to oral sex, according to court records.

Since Pridgen’s arrest, the case has grown from one alleged victim to 11, and Ridley said in court Thursday that investigators still have 100 more people to contact.

At a court hearing last month, Ridley said authorities have recorded admissions by Pridgen that he engaged in sexual behavior with minors and used his position as a teacher to get students to perform sexual favors for him.

The statements were obtained using a concealed microphone and transmitter worn by a student during a meeting with Pridgen the night before he was arrested.

If convicted on all charges, the teacher could face up to 34 years in state prison, prosecutors said.