[Update: Fri., Sept. 13, 2024, 4 p.m.] The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office is actively looking for Steven Schapansky after a warrant for his arrest was issued Friday morning when he failed to appear for an arraignment in Santa Barbara Superior Court. According to the Fresno Sheriff’s Office, he is described as 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing 210 pounds, with blue eyes and blonde hair and was last seen in Fresno wearing a blue polo shirt, blue shorts, and white shoes and riding a 2021 blue Honda Monkey motorcycle with California license plate 25H7377. Authorities believe he may have headed toward Yosemite National Park. Anyone with information on Schapansky’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office at (559) 600-3111 or Valley Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-7867.
[Original story] Steven Schapansky, the 54-year-old former Santa Barbara Charter School teacher who was charged on Monday with two felony counts of child molestation and an additional 70 misdemeanor counts of electronic peeping, failed to appear at his arraignment this Friday morning. Judge Thomas Adams, who heard from the prosecution, as well as Robert Sanger, Schapansky’s defense attorney, issued a no-bail warrant for his arrest.
Casey Nelson, the lead prosecuting attorney, informed Judge Adams that his team received images of Schapansky fleeing on a motorcycle while carrying a “large backpack,” continuing that Schapansky has his pilot’s license, access to planes, and is a potential flight risk.
The defense presented concerns that their client was at risk of committing suicide, noting that Schapansky’s family went to law enforcement in hopes of locating him “before something happens” after they received alarming text messages. Sanger also stated that Schapansky left his beloved dog at home, building to the point that the whereabouts of the accused are unknown.
Judge Adams indicated that a no-bail warrant was to be issued for Schapansky’s failure to appear, on top of the fact that he is a potential flight risk and may attempt to flee the state.
Schapansky, who taught 5th and 6th grades at the charter school until his contract expired in June and was not renewed, was accused of hiding cameras on campus and making recordings, including at locations where the children changed their clothes. He was first arrested on misdemeanor charges on July 13 but released while the Sheriff’s Office investigation unfolded. Last Friday, he was rearrested in the Fresno area on a felony warrant of child molestation by Santa Barbara and Fresno county sheriff’s deputies, but was released again on a $100,000 bail on Sunday.
An additional informational hearing is scheduled for November 13 in Department 8 at 8:30 a.m. Further details about the case will be released as they become available.
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