Haddad, 50, has been charged with three counts of annoying or molesting a child and a single count of indecent exposure. All the charges are misdemeanor offenses. If convicted, Haddad would be subject to maximum jail sentence of 42 months and fines up to $6,000. His trial was originally scheduled for last Thursday but was postponed until March 2 at his lawyer’s request.
City Prosecutor Brenda Wells said that she is in plea bargain negotiations with Haddad’s lawyer.
“I can’t go into the details of what the plea offer is going to be, but I want to make it clear that what I do want to take into consideration is what the victims want and what their families desire,” Wells said. “And I want to make sure that the community is ultimately safe from such things happening again in the future.”
On Dec. 3, Haddad met a student alone in his classroom, purportedly to discuss a project she was working on. Allegedly, he began talking to her about things of a sexual nature before exposing himself and performing a lewd act. The student immediately left the room and shortly thereafter reported the alleged incident to school officials. Redondo Beach Police Department detectives conducted a crime scene investigation and reportedly found evidence to support the student’s claim. Haddad was subsequently arrested.
Haddad, a married father of two who lives in Seal Beach, posted $75,000 in bail that night. The teacher, who had been at RUHS since 2002, was placed on leave by the district. In the months since his arrest, some students have rallied to his support. A Facebook page titled “Mr. Haddad is Innocent” has attracted 195 members.
In the course of the RBPD investigation, however, two more students came forward and reported Haddad had engaged in similarly lewd conduct in their presence. Wells did not discuss the details of those allegations other than to say she believed enough evidence existed to prove “without a reasonable doubt” that Haddad was guilty of additional crimes.
“It’s a sad state of our society when parents have to be fearful of sending children to school thinking that they may be violated in some way by the people they are entrusting their child to, namely, their teachers,” Wells said. “I want to be clear, though – I think this is an isolated incident. I don’t think this is something that is prevalent in our schools and I think the facts will present themselves as such.”
“What we are dealing with in this case is a compromise of trust,” Wells added. “I think it’s very important to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
