Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office formally filed charges against Schapansky on Friday, including two felony counts of lewd and lascivious behavior with a child under the age of 14 and 70 counts of invasion of privacy dating back to 2017.
A California teacher accused of secretly recording underage students with devices hidden around the school was taken back into custody on Friday.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office (SBCSO) announced over the weekend that Steven Schapansky, 54, had been arrested in Fresno on a felony warrant after being charged with child molestation.
Schapansky was later booked into the Northern Branch Jail and his bail set at $100,000. A public information officer with the SBCSO tells Inside Edition Digital that Schapansky was released on Sunday after posting bail.
He will be back in court next week though as the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office (SBCDAO) formally filed charges against Schapansky on Friday, including two felony counts of lewd and lascivious behavior with a child under the age of 14 and 70 counts of invasion of privacy dating back to 2017.
Schapasky will be arraigned on September 13 and has yet to enter a plea to any of these charges. He does not have a lawyer at this time.
Detectives previously arrested Schapansky, 54, last month in Goleta "for recording juveniles using hidden recording devices in several locations, including the school where he was employed," said the SBCSO. No charges were filed at that time.
According to detectives, those devices had allegedly been hidden around the Santa Barbara Charter School, where Schapansky had been teaching for six years at the time of his arrest.
One day after being arrested by police for what they claim is an invasion of privacy with a recording device, Schapansky was released, according to the SBCSO.
Detectives continued to investigate however and identified Schapansky as the suspect in a child molestation case according to the SBCSO, who said they are working closely with the SBCDAO " to ensure the needs of victims are not overshadowed by the focus on the investigation and prosecution of the accused.".
Schapansky started working at the school in 2018, according to state records. He received his substitute teaching license from the state in 1994, and renewed the year-long credential on four more occasions, in 1997, 1999, 2015 and 2017, according to records. It is unclear where Schapansky may have been employed during those years or if investigators are looking into his movements during those years.
A little over a week after his arrest, the Santa Barbara Charter School filed a petition against Schapansky for workplace harassment. That petition lists the school's Director of Operations Christina Cullen as the person to be protected. The judge granted a temporary order ahead of a hearing on the petition next month.
When asked for further details about the petition, Cullen declined to elaborate, citing "pending the ongoing investigation" but did tell Inside Edition Digital that Schapansky is no longer a teacher at the school.
It is unclear how police became aware of the alleged secret recordings, and the SBCSO would only say that "deputies received a report of secret recording devices that were found in the suspect’s possessions" one day before his arrest. The SBCSO also said that the school is just one of the "several locations" where Schapansky allegedly filmed juveniles.
Schapansky did not respond to Inside Edition Digital's requests for comment.
