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CSUB professor arrested on child pornography charges pleaded not guilty

Posted at 11:11 AM, Dec 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-21 14:41:39-05

UPDATE (12/21/17 11:36 a.m.) Ishida appeared in court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty. He is expected to be back in court on Dec. 27.

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UPDATE (12/12/17 10:00 a.m.): 63-year-old Theodore Ishida is scheduled to be arraigned in court Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. 

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UPDATE (12/9/17 2:30 p.m.): The Kern County Central Receiving Facility confirmed that Ishida bailed out of jail Friday night around 10 p.m.

He is expected to be in court on Dec. 22nd.

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UPDATE (12/8/17 12:30 p.m.): CSUB issued the following statement on the matter.

“CSUB took appropriate action once the University was made aware of a Bakersfield Police Department investigation of Dr. Ishida in January 2017. Since that time, Dr. Ishida has been temporarily suspended with pay pending the Bakersfield Police Department’s and the University’s investigation of the matter. Dr. Ishida does not have access to his office or the campus. The University has cooperated with Bakersfield police during the ongoing investigation and will continue to do so.”

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UPDATE (12/8/17 12:15 p.m.): According to court documents obtained by 23ABC News, Ishida allegedly downloaded images of females believed to be between the ages of five and 10-years-old, engaging in sexual conduct with adult men.

Ishida's computer contained more than 600 images depicting a person under the age of 18 "engaging in or simulating sexual contact." Ten or more images contained minors who appeared to be under the age of 12.

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A CSUB professor is in custody and faces child pornography charges, according to Bakersfield Police.

The arrest of 63-year-old Theodore Ishida came after a 16-month investigation that started when Ishida told police his computer and electronic devices had been stolen back in Aug. 2016.

Another man, 39-year-old Francois Gariepy was arrested and is accused of stealing the computer. He later reportedly tried to extort money from Ishida.

Bakersfield Police told 23ABC that they do not believe Ishida and Gariepy had a past history. 

The investigation began when a residential burglary occurred on Durham Court. Ishida reported that an unknown suspect forced entry into his home and took several electronic devices, including that computer.

On Dec. 5, 2016 Ishida contacted detectives assigned to the burglary investigation and told them someone called him and demanded money in exchange for his computer.

The unknown suspect told him if he didn't comply, he'd tell authorities about the sexual content on the computer.

Detectives were able to determine that Garipey was attempting to extort Ishida in exchange for money and believed Ishida's computer contained inappropriate sexual content. The content was downloaded from a CSUB computer and later transferred to the stolen computer.

CSUB was notified of the investigation and they placed Ishida on administrative leave. 

On Dec. 14, 2016 detectives searched Garipey's home on Encina Street and found Ishida's computer. An extensive analysis of the computer was then conducted.

Investigators located child pornography on the computer that is believed to have been downloaded by Ishida. An investigation was then conducted into the extortion of Ishida, which led investigators to believe that Garipey attempted to extort Ishida.

A warrant to arrest Ishida on child pornography charges was issued on Nov. 15. A warrant was also issued for Garipey for attempted extortion.

Police do not know if Garipey is who broke into Ishida's home and how he acquired the computer is still unknown. Police do not believe Garipey is a student, or former student of CSUB. It is unknown how Garipey contacted Ishida, but BPD believes it was via cell phone.

Both Ishida and Garipey were arrested on Dec. 8 and booked into Kern County Jail for their warrants. Police say Ishida was still working at CSUB at the time of his arrest. 

Ishida is being held on $10,000 bail and is due to appear in court on Tuesday.

Garipey is being held on $70,000 bail and is due to appear in court on Tuesday.