Charges Pending Against Teacher Accused of Sending Seductive Texts to Student

A Murrieta man who is accused of sending inappropriate messages of a sexual nature to a student who attends the middle school where he teaches was free on bail as of Wednesday.

Jeffrey Rightmire, 41, posted $5,000 bail following his arrest Tuesday, according to jail records. A sheriff's official said the Perris Police Department has submitted the case to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, which will now decide whether there is enough evidence to prosecute Rightmire.

As of Wednesday, the spokesman for the DA’s office, John Hall, said: "At this time, no charges are pending. That is because we have not reviewed the case so no filing decision has been made. Once we receive the case from the law enforcement agency we will review it and, based on the evidence, decide what, if any, charges should be filed." 

Patch was unable to reach Rightmire Wednesday. A woman who answered the door at his Murrieta residence, identifying herself as his mother, said he was not home and that he mostly likely would not be willing to provide a statement in response to the allegations.

Rightmire was placed on paid administrative leave from his position at Lakeside Middle School in Perris, where he serves as a computer teacher. He has been employed by the Val Verde Unified School District since 1996, according to District Spokesman Daniel Whitfield.

“It is paid leave pending the investigation,” Whitfield said Wednesday.

Rightmire was arrested by investigators with the Perris Police Department following an investigation that, according to Whitfield, began Monday.

“There were two students who approached a counselor at the school and reported that they felt another student was having an inappropriate relationship with one of the teachers,” Whitfield said. “From there the counselor met with the student the other two students were mentioning, and from there the counselor gathered enough information to forward it to the district office, which contacted the police.”

Rightmire was subsequently arrested on suspicion of “sending harmful matter by text and Internet, with the intent to seduce a minor,” a felony, according to Perris police.

Whitfield said the district knows very little details about the allegations, except that Rightmire is suspected of texting messages to the student through social media applications.

“We turned over all of the equipment the teacher was using and (the police) took over the investigation,” Whitfield said.

“We are dealing with a quite a bit of shock and disbelief because he was a very well-liked teacher,” Whitfield said. “There was no indication; it is not like we had a lot of prior complaints. So we are dealing with the aftershock of an event like that.”

Val Verde Unified is using the incident to remind staff, students and parents of the district’s policies.

“We are reiterating our social media policy and we have reiterated to parents the dangers of Internet use,” Whitfield said.