A former Stockton charter school employee was given nearly 30 years in prison after pleading no contest to child sexual abuse and other crimes, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Erick Whiteside, a former employee at ABLE Charter Schools in Stockton, sexually assaulted a minor between the age of 14 and 17 on two occasions in 2023 in San Joaquin County, prosecutors said, and knowingly sent the boy obscene material “with the intent to gratify or arouse sexual desires.”
According to prosecutors, between April and December of that year, Whiteside also posed as a young girl and sent obscene materials to seven additional minors in San Joaquin County. The District Attorney’s Office stated that, although no physical contact occurred in those cases, prosecutors have requested that the court consider financially compensating the victims and issuing protective orders against Whiteside.
Whiteside also pleaded no contest to charges stemming from the sexual abuse of a San Mateo County girl under the age of 14 during a period spanning from September 2006 to December 2010.
Of the three felony counts against Whiteside, he was sentenced to 16 years for the continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 in the San Mateo County case, 11 years for the sodomy of a minor in the San Joaquin County case and one year for the distribution of obscene material to a minor, also in San Joaquin County.
“Protecting our children is a top priority for my office, and this case underscores our commitment to holding predators accountable,” San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas said in a statement.