Ex-teacher accused of child sex abuse returns to Sacramento court and will seek pretrial release

Rosalio Ahumada
·3 min read
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A former school teacher accused of sexually abusing students returned to court Tuesday, four days after he failed to show up for a hearing and was in a four-hour standoff with Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies at his home.

Since his initial arrest in June 2021, 78-year-old Steven Richard Kester has faced charges of committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 14 years old. Earlier this month, four former students filed a civil lawsuit alleging Kester sexually abused them during the more than 30 years he worked as a teacher for the Folsom Cordova Unified School District.

On Tuesday afternoon, Kester returned to Sacramento Superior Court. This time, he was wearing an orange jail uniform and stood inside a holding cell as he spoke with his attorney, Jay Dyer, in the courtroom. The defense attorney asked the court to schedule another hearing on Thursday morning, when Dyer will ask the court to return his client to pretrial release.

Court Commissioner Alicia Hartley scheduled Thursday’s hearing to determine whether the court should set a bail amount for Kester as he awaits trial. As a result of last week’s standoff, Kester is now being held without bail at the Sacramento County Jail. His trial date has not yet been scheduled.

Steven Kester, who taught in the Folsom Unified School District, attends a hearing at Sacramento Superior Court on Tuesday, June 25. He was arrested on suspicion of multiple felony counts of child sexual abuse in June 2021.
Steven Kester, who taught in the Folsom Unified School District, attends a hearing at Sacramento Superior Court on Tuesday, June 25. He was arrested on suspicion of multiple felony counts of child sexual abuse in June 2021.

Kester had been free on his own recognizance while awaiting trial in his criminal case. He was scheduled to appear in court Friday morning to schedule his trial and to give attorneys a chance to discuss a potential plea deal, but he never showed up for that 8:30 a.m. hearing.

Dyer was concerned about his client’s well-being and asked sheriff’s deputies to check on Kester. Judge Satnam S. Rattu also revoked the court’s order for Kester to remain free on his own recognizance and issued a warrant for his arrest.

That same morning, deputies found the former teacher at his apartment in the 9200 block of Madison Avenue, near Blue Oak Drive on the border of Orangevale and Fair Oaks. Kester pointed a gun at himself and stabbed himself with a knife as the deputies tried to de-escalate the situation, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.

Kester went back inside his apartment and refused to come out until about 1:15 p.m., when he surrendered without further incident. He was placed onto a gurney and taken by ambulance to a hospital. He was treated for injuries at a hospital over the weekend and booked Sunday evening at the Sacramento County Jail.

Steven Richard Kester, who taught in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District, is taken to the hospital in custody at his Orangevale home after missing a hearing in Sacramento Superior Court on Friday. He refused to come out and pointed a gun at himself and stabbed himself with a knife according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Steven Richard Kester, who taught in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District, is taken to the hospital in custody at his Orangevale home after missing a hearing in Sacramento Superior Court on Friday. He refused to come out and pointed a gun at himself and stabbed himself with a knife according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Kester worked as a full-time teacher for Folsom Cordova Unified school district from 1976 until he retired in May 2012. He continued to work there as a substitute teacher until May 2021, when district officials learned of the investigation that led to ex-teacher’s arrest the following month.

In the civil lawsuit filed June 11 in Sacramento Superior Court, four former Folsom Cordova Unified students allege the teacher sexually groomed and sexually abused them while they were his students. The plaintiffs allege serial molestation beginning in the 1990s, with the most recent case of abuse taking place in 2021 at Cordova Meadows Elementary School. This case is scheduled for a case management conference hearing Thursday.