Former Ventura County teacher sentenced to nearly 7 years for sexually abusing student
A 66-year-old man was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for sexually assaulting an underaged student while he was a teacher at an Ojai school, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Paul Herder, of Pahoa, Hawaii, was arrested last June in connection to numerous sexual assaults involving a student between 2013 and 2017. Herder was a teacher at Oak Grove School, a private preschool through high school, at the time.
The student, underaged at the time, reported the crimes to police as an adult in February 2023. Herder admitted to the sexual assaults in March when he pleaded guilty to six felony counts.
“The defendant’s actions represent a grave betrayal of trust, exploiting the position of authority to manipulate and victimize a student,” said Supervising Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa
Suttner, of the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Sexual Assault Unit. “This sentence serves as a clear message that such egregious violations will be met with the full force of the law.”
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Herder’s convictions were for two counts of luring, and one count each for anal and genital penetration by foreign objects, oral copulation of a person under 18, unlawful sexual intercourse and using a minor for sex acts. He also pleaded guilty to a special circumstance for taking advantage of a position of trust or confidence to commit the offense.
Herder, who was sentenced in Ventura County court on Friday, will serve six years and eight months in prison.
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