River City High School Teacher Charged With Child Molestation

YOLO COUNTY (CBS13) – A River City High School teacher and coach has been charged with several counts of child molestation.

Arturo Bustamante, 41, is accused of performing lewd and lascivious acts on four teenage girls. He faces nine counts of improper sexual conduct with students. According to court documents filed Wednesday in Yolo County, the molestation began in 2010 and continued through last year at the West Sacramento school, where Bustamante graduated from in 1989.

Daniel Velez, a custodian at the school, said he thought something improper was going on when he saw photos of Bustamante with girls on his classroom wall.

"There were a couple of him with a cheerleader on his hip and stuff," Velez told CBS13. "To take advantage of children like that, it's sickening."

But Velez says he really got angry when his granddaughter, a student at the school, told him she too was victimized.

"He did inappropriate things like put his head on her chest and stuff like that," he said.

Police began investigating the allegations this past October. The school district has put Bustamante was paid on administrative leave.

"It's a high-profile person for us, head football coach and teacher," Superintendent Dayton Gilliland. "It's troubling for the entire community."

Nobody answered the door at Bustamante's house when CBS13 went there, but at the school students were talking about their teacher.
"He would flirt with students," one female student said. "I didn't think anyone would really tell on him."

Some students stood up for Bustamante, saying they never witnessed anything inappropriate, but others said it was obvious.