- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Former Middletown High soccer coach and science teacher ordered to stand trial for stalking, sexual assault charges
Michael Antonio Dodd, 30, is charged with 14 counts involving nine juvenile victims, both males and females, said Deputy District Attorney Rich Watson.
Following Dodd’s Thursday preliminary hearing, visiting Judge Thomas Maddock from Contra Costa County ordered that Dodd be held to answer in the case.
Dodd now faces trial for one count of felony stalking, two counts of felony lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, eight misdemeanor counts of annoying or molesting a minor, and three counts of misdemeanor simple battery, which Watson said is harmful or offensive touching.
Dodd’s defense attorney, Andrea Sullivan, said she did not have a comment on the case at this time when contacted by Lake County News.
Watson said the Middletown Unified School District hired Dodd in the summer of 2021 as a science teacher and boys soccer coach at Middletown High School.
The time frame for the case is from the start of June 2021 to the end of September 2021, according to the amended charging complaint.
Watson said Dodd first made contact with students while coaching at soccer practice during the summer, and then later in his science classroom.
The first day of school for Middletown in the 2021-22 school year was Aug. 16, according to the district’s Facebook page.
Less than a month later, Watson said authorities were contacted by school officials about Dodd.
Specifically, Watson said the Lake County Sheriff’s Office was notified on Sept. 14, 2021, that a staff member had complained to the school about Dodd’s inappropriate behavior toward a student.
Watson said the initial report was vague beyond allegations of Dodd having inappropriate communications with a female juvenile.
By Sept. 17, 2021, Middletown Unified gave Dodd a letter of release, terminating him from his job based on the school’s own investigation into allegations, “which is pretty fast,” Watson noted.
The initial investigation involved just one juvenile victim, Watson said.
District Attorney Susan Krones filed the original complaint against Dodd on Sept. 21, 2021.
That document referred to the original alleged victim, charging one count of misdemeanor annoying and molesting a child under the age of 18.
As a result of the followup investigation, Watson amended the complaint this past July and added more counts for the additional eight victims.
The amended complaint alleged that Dodd stalked and harassed the original victim over the course of four months, making “a credible threat” against her that caused her to fear for her own safety and that of her family.
Watson said that if Dodd is convicted of the lewd acts charges, he faces lifetime registration as a sex offender.
Maddock ordered Dodd to be arraigned at 8:15 a.m. Feb. 7 in Superior Court Department 3, Watson said.
At arraignment, Watson said Dodd will enter a plea, and then new court dates will be set in the run up to the trial.
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