An Orange County teacher accused of fathering a teenager's child is under investigation

An Orange County teacher who allegedly fathered a child with a teenage student decades ago has been placed on administrative leave as police investigate allegations of sexual abuse against him, authorities said.

Reiko Wright, a former Loara High School student, took to social media on Monday to voice her allegations against Steve Graves – who she said abused and impregnated her in the late 1980s.

Another of Graves' former students, Helen Lowney, also wrote on social media that she was sexually abused in 1987 when she was 16 years old. Graves, now 61, was probably in his mid-20s at the time.

Graves did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday evening. A call to a number listed for him was also not answered.

Anaheim police spokesman Sgt. Matt Sutter said Wright and Lowney were friends at Loara High at the time of the alleged abuse. Both intend to take legal action against Graves if possible, he said.

“While you saw him as a beacon of leadership and faith, I knew him as the predator who stole my innocence, impregnated me as a teenager and left scars that run deeper than time,” Wright wrote on Instagram.

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Wright alleged Graves groomed her when she was a student at Loara High and used his position as a teacher and church leader in the community to get closer to her.

Wright later transferred to Gilbert High School in Anaheim, where she endured verbal abuse from her classmates as she completed her senior year while pregnant.

“He was the teacher who lingered at your child’s desk a moment too long, the church leader who offered whispered condolences with concern,” she wrote.

Graves, most recently band director at Lexington Junior High School, was placed on leave by the Anaheim Union High School District on Aug. 29. The district said it was taking steps to fire him and notified Lexington families of the investigation on Wednesday. according to the statement.

The district's statement also said the allegations “showed that paternity tests revealed that Graves fathered a child with one of the students.”

“The safety of our students is our top priority at all of our campuses,” the district said. “The sexual misconduct exposed in the social media posts is reprehensible. It violates the district’s core values ​​and does not meet the high expectations we have for the professional conduct of our employees.”

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Graves also previously taught at Ball Junior High School.

Sutter said no additional victims have come forward since investigators began their investigation.

“We are working with you [the] “Visit the district attorney’s office to see if we can file charges,” he said. “At the same time, we are giving time to see if witnesses or other victims come forward.”

According to a district website, Graves taught music in the Anaheim Union High School District for more than 20 years and worked as band director at Lexington Junior High for more than a decade. He has received three Teacher of the Year awards from the district, the website says, as well as several honorary awards from the Parent Teacher Assn.

Anyone with further information is asked to contact Anaheim police at (714) 765-1623 or Orange County Crime Stoppers (855) TIP-OCCS.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.