Longtime Sacramento-area teacher arrested on suspicion of child sexual abuse
Sheriff’s deputies on Thursday arrested a retired teacher on suspicion of multiple felony counts of child sexual abuse in Sacramento County. The suspect taught at local schools for more than four decades.
Steven Richard Kester of Orangevale was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on charges of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. He is ineligible for bail, jail records show.
Kester, 75, is a retired teacher and former substitute teacher for Folsom Cordova Unified School District and other local schools, according to the Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the case in collaboration with the FBI.
Folsom Cordova Unified hired Kester as a full-time teacher in 1976 and he retired in May 2012, the district said in a statement sent to The Sacramento Bee. He became part of the district’s substitute teacher pool in September 2012.
“The FBI contacted us in May (2021) to alert us of an investigation involving Kester,” the district wrote in its statement. “We immediately severed ties and removed Kester from the sub list and all involvement with our schools.”
The district said Kester’s employee file showed no arrest reports or disciplinary actions. Sacramento Superior Court records show no prior criminal history for Kester in Sacramento County.
No other details about the case were released by the Sheriff’s Office, and the investigation remains ongoing. Authorities ask anyone with information relevant to the investigation to call 916-874-5115.
“Any act of violence or abuse of a child is abhorrent, and news surrounding Kester’s arrest was shocking and deeply upsetting to us,” the school district’s statement concluded. “FCUSD will continue to respond swiftly and immediately to any and all information we receive that will aid in law enforcement’s investigation of this case, and that will ensure the safety of our students.”
