A retired La Habra High School teacher was charged Friday with one count of misdemeanor indecency dating back more than 30 years when he taught at a Chicago-area junior high.
The charge against Charles T. Ritz III, who was hired at La Habra High School a year after being forced to resign from Lake Bluff Junior High in 1985, follows a nearly year-long investigation by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office. More than 50 witnesses from California to Florida were interviewed on incidents dating back to the late 1970s, according to Lake County spokeswoman Cynthia Vargas.
“When we launched this investigation 11 months ago, we knew it would present challenges because of the amount of time that had elapsed between the incidents and when we learned of them,” Lake Bluff Chief of Police David Belmonte said in a statement. “But those challenges did not diminish our resolve to investigate the matter and work on behalf of the victims and our entire community so we could learn as much as we could about the disturbing allegations and do whatever we could to hold responsible parties strictly accountable.”
Vargas said Ritz would be extradited to Lake County from Orange County.
Ex-Lake Bluff student John Bollman has alleged Ritz wooed students with beer and pornography while he was a teacher there. School documents obtained by The Orange County Register said Ritz made “sexual advances” toward students.
Ritz, who in May 2016 left his math teaching position at La Habra High, could not be reached for comment. At the time of his retirement, there was no record of a local complaint against him at Fullerton Joint Union High School District, where he recently served as a union president.
Sources close to the Lake County State’s Attorney’s case say La Habra police for months have been interviewing Ritz’s former students from Orange County.
Lake County officials said the statute of limitations there might have been waived by Ritz when he left Illinois. Records with Lake Bluff School District 65 in Illinois show Ritz resigned in September 1985, the same day he was notified by the school board about a formal hearing to consider his termination for “unacceptable behavior by a teacher of this school district toward its students.”
Ritz started a teaching position in Orange County in September 1986.
It is unclear whether the Fullerton district inquired with Lake Bluff about Ritz’s work history. Documents show that Lake Bluff school officials failed to disclose the accusations against Ritz when contacted by a separate district decades ago.