| For Immediate Release Case # 09HF0428
April 16, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER CHARGED WITH MOLESTING
TWO YOUNG GIRLS, AGES 8 TO 11, AND POSSESSING HUNDREDS OF IMAGES OF GRAPHIC CHILD PORN
NEWPORT BEACH – A high school teacher who previously taught in Orange County will be arraigned tomorrow on charges of molesting two young girls when they were ages 8 to 11 years old. Mathew Macul Fahey, 47, Aliso Viejo, is charged with two felony counts of lewd acts on a child under 14, open felony count of possession and control of child pornography, and sentencing enhancement allegations for substantial sexual conduct with a child and sexual crimes against more than one victim. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 16 years and four months to life in state prison. Fahey is being held on $1 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow, Friday, April 17, 2009, at 8:30 a.m. in Department H-2, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach.
At the time of his arrest on March 12, 2009, Fahey was working as a 9th grade English teacher in Blythe, Riverside County, at Palo Verde High School. Between 2003 and 2004, the defendant taught at Corona Del Mar High School in Orange County.
In the summer of 2001, Fahey was walking his dog in Laguna Beach and is accused of meeting Jane Doe #1, then 11 years old, when she stopped to pet the dog. The defendant is accused of claiming to be a professional photographer and flattering the victim by telling her that she should be a model. After exchanging contact information, the defendant is accused of conducting at least two non-pornographic photo shoots with the victim while her mother was present.
On Sept. 5, 2001, Fahey is accused of instructing Jane Doe #1 to remove her clothes during a photo shoot in his Laguna Beach studio while the victim’s mother was not present. The victim complied out of fear. The defendant is accused of touching and photographing the victim’s vagina and instructing her not to tell her mother. Jane Doe #1 did not disclose the molest at that time.
In January or February 1997, Fahey is accused of sexually assaulting Jane Doe #2, the 8-year-old female relative of his then-live-in girlfriend. On one occasion, the defendant is accused of digitally penetrating the victim while lying in bed together watching a movie with the victim’s mother present but unaware of the sexual assault. Approximately five years later, in 2002, Jane Doe #2 disclosed the molest to her mother.
On Nov. 3, 1991, Fahey is accused of sexually assaulting Jane Doe #3, an 8-year-old female relative of his then-girlfriend. Jane Doe #2 and Jane Doe #3 do not know each other. During an overnight visit to the victim’s home, Fahey is accused of entering Jane Doe #3’s bedroom in the middle of the night, getting into her bed, and digitally penetrating the terrified victim. Jane Doe #3 disclosed the sexual assault two months later to a daycare provider after watching a program at school about sexual assault.
In April 2008, Jane Doe #1 disclosed the sexual assault against her to a high school counselor. Subsequent investigation led to the filing of charges for Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2. The statute of limitations has run for Jane Doe #3.
During a search of Fahey’s Aliso Viejo residence in June 2008, Laguna Beach police detectives discovered hundreds of images of graphic child pornography and sexy-lingerie erotica featuring little girls appearing to be between infancy and 14 years old.