STOCKTON - A Lincoln Unified School District teacher has been placed on paid leave amid allegations she was operating pornographic websites on a school computer with a Stockton police officer as her partner.
District officials confiscated the school-issued Apple laptop of Heidi Kaeslin, a special-education teacher at Lincoln High, about one month ago. Kaeslin, 35, has been replaced by a long-term substitute teacher.
"We're conducting an investigation," Lincoln Unified Superintendent Tom Uslan said. "Absolutely no determination has been made whether disciplinary action will even be necessary. We make no conclusion at this stage."
Lincoln Unified has hired a computer expert to perform a forensic study of the laptop. A written report is expected this week, said attorney Chet Quaide, who is representing Lincoln Unified.
Based on the report, Uslan will recommend to the Lincoln Unified board whether action - including possibly firing Kaeslin - is warranted. Action could come as soon as December's board meeting.
The investigation centers around allegations Kaeslin and Richard Fields, 51, an officer assigned by the Stockton Police Department to Lincoln High, were using the computer to support several for-profit websites, most of them adult. Fields retired from the police force in May.
The sites include RandHentertainment.com, 360pig.com, teachertitties.com and mysluttyteachers.com.
"We learned of the allegation of potential misuse of the computer," Quaide said. "At that point we retrieved it."
Kaeslin and her attorney declined to comment. Fields, who was a Stockton police employee when the alleged activities took place, admitted involvement in the pornographic sites.
But, he said, he and Kaeslin never fully developed the sites; Kaeslin's involvement was limited and ultimately he abandoned the venture. He said the allegations are overblown.
"When this is over, the record will show that she didn't do what they say," Fields said. "And that's going to come back and bite them."
Websites taken down
Most of the sites have been stripped of content, some in the last few days. However, some information is still "live" or remains in Internet archives.
For instance, under "About us" on RandHentertainment.com, it says: "This company was created by a young teacher who was inspired, after her male students spent most of the period staring at her boobs, to create the 'I (heart) teachers' shirt. .... She thought, 'Why the hell not' and moved forward with her idea by finding a partner, a computer whiz, and a T-shirt designer. The rest is history."
The T-shirts depict a logo trademarked by Fields. The logo says "I (heart) teachers" on a T-shirt draped over large breasts.
The mailing address of RandHentertainment is an anonymous mail drop-box business in a Quail Lakes shopping center. But the domain name is registered to Kaeslin at her home address on Landview Drive.
RandH has a Facebook page and a Twitter feed. Flyers were distributed around Stockton advertising teachertitties.com. The Record has obtained waiver forms used by R&H. The waivers were to be signed by models as a release to use their images.
Teachertitties.com is privately registered. But the logo "I (heart) teachers" appears on the home page, linking the sites. On the site's home page it says, "Remember your favorite teacher? Ever dream about seeing her (breasts)? Well now you can!"
Internet records show teachertitties.com, a porn site replete with photos of sex acts in various categories, was active only on Feb. 1, indicating a possible test-run by the site's developers.
Mysluttyteachers.com is privately registered.
Fields said he conceived of the sites as a way to supplement his pension after city budget cuts forced him into early retirement. The domain names could be resold.
"I thought those domain names would bring me some extra income with all the budget crap going on in the city," he explained.
He said the idea seemed promising. "As soon as I bought teachertitties.com, I got a call from where I registered it," he recounted, "and they said, 'You're sitting on a gold mine.' "
Fields said he and a "silent partner" with computer expertise - not Kaeslin - operated 360pig.com, which sold adult sex toys.
"They improve people's romantic lives," Fields said.
Status in doubt
Kaeslin has worked for Lincoln Unified since 2002, including an early stint as Lincoln High's girls soccer coach. Her future with the district is murky.
There are three possible outcomes: Kaeslin could be fired, a memorandum could be placed in her personnel file or she could be exonerated. Unpaid suspension is not an option under the teachers' contract with Lincoln Unified.
Uslan declined to comment about the matter.
"The only thing I could tell you is that both state and federal law afford employees a right to privacy in personnel matters," he said. "I simply can't violate those provisions."
Quaide said there is "nothing" in district policy that specifically addresses the situation, though Lincoln Unified's board did adopt a "Code of Ethics of the Education Profession" in 2003.
The code calls for teachers to "adhere to the highest ethical standards" and "to attain and maintain the highest possible degree of ethical conduct." The code says that for breaches to constitute "unprofessional conduct," they must "involve jeopardy to student welfare; evidence malice, serious incompetency or bad judgment; or show a consistent pattern of misconduct.
Quaide said Kaeslin's alleged use of the district computer for personal purposes, by itself, is not a serious enough breach to put her in danger of termination.
"If the district fired every teacher who used a district computer for personal use, there wouldn't be any teachers left," he said. "There's a fairly high standard in state law for dismissing a tenured teacher. Misusing a computer in and of itself wouldn't meet that standard. There would have to be more of a focus on what it was used for."
Marriage troubles
Kaeslin first became acquainted with Fields when he was assigned by the Stockton police as Lincoln High's School Resource Officer. Fields said he often visited Kaeslin's class, where the special-education students needed mentoring and discipline. Ultimately, he and Kaeslin became romantically involved, Fields said.
He said he believes the investigation was triggered when her husband discovered the affair and alerted school authorities out of spite.
"OK, if my crime is that I fell in love with a married woman, I'm sorry," Fields said. "It wasn't planned."
Kaeslin's estranged husband, Trent Kaeslin, said his wife told him of the websites, but he did not report them until he realized their full extent.
"I was aware of the basics," he said. "I had no idea of the magnitude of it."
Trent and Heidi Kaeslin had been married almost six years before becoming legally separated in September. They are going through divorce proceedings.
Fields said he didn't think owning porn domain names or a sex-toy business was conduct unbecoming a police officer.
"I thought, 'Why can't I buy a domain name?' " he said. "I didn't look into it because I didn't think there was anything wrong."
Stockton police spokesman Pete Smith said no action would be appropriate until the investigation is concluded. And none may be taken, as Fields is now retired.
"If it had come to light when he was still employed there would be a possible administrative review and possibly administrative sanctions," Smith said.
Fields conceded he might have followed a better plan.
"If I could do this whole thing over again, I'd still end up with Heidi," he said. "But I'd do things differently."
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