Former teacher Steven Schapansky fails to appear for arraignment on felony criminal charges Friday
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Steven Schapansky, a former teacher facing more than 70 counts of secretly recording children at Santa Barbara Charter School where he was an employee, failed to appear for his arraignment on two additional molestation charges Friday.
Schapansky was set to make his first court appearance after two felony counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 were added to his 70 counts of unlawful electronic recording.
Your News Channel was in the courtroom when Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Thomas Adams decided to issue a no bail warrant and continue the proceedings to Nov. 13 of this year.
On Friday, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office issued a press release detailing that Schapansky was last seen in Fresno on the afternoon of Sep. 11 wearing a blue polo shirt, blue shorts, and white shoes while riding a 2021 blue Honda Monkey motorcycle with the license plate number 25H7377 and pictured below.
Schapansky is described as 6'2", 210 pounds with blue eyes and blonde hair and may be heading toward Yosemite National Park shared the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.
During Friday's proceedings, Schapansky's attorney informed the court that Schapansky had sent a note via text message to loved ones earlier this week and prosecutors believe he has fled the area.
Schapansky was originally arrested in July for illegally recording multiple students in several locations, but detectives later identified the 54-year-old as a suspect in a child molestation case during a follow-up investigation.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office obtained an arrest warrant in connection with the new molestation charges and on Sep. 6, deputies with the Fresno County Sheriff's Office and detectives with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office arrested Schapansky and he was booked at the Northern Branch Jail.
