Prosecutor: American Canyon teacher preyed on teen, kept ‘folders’ of illicit sex acts

A Napa County Superior Court judge on Tuesday set bail at $250,000 for an American Canyon High School physical education teacher charged with 21 felony counts following an investigation into alleged child sexual abuse.

Judge Francisca Tisher approved the bail amount during a hearing for Brad Rowell, 41, who is accused of engaging in unlawful sexual acts with a child.

Napa County jail records showed he was still in jail as of Tuesday afternoon.

If released, according to Tisher’s orders, he will have to surrender his passport, wear a GPS tracking monitor and avoid contact with the teen girl accusing him of the abuse.

Rowell was initially arrested April 9, a day after the girl reported the alleged incidents to a school resource officer, who then informed Napa County sheriff’s investigators.

Jail records show he was released after posting $100,000 bail.

Investigators arrested Rowell again on Friday on suspicion of more charges of sexual abuse involving the same teen. They said they’d turned up more evidence that supported her allegations.

Rowell has pleaded not guilty to 15 counts of committing lewd acts on a child, three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, two counts of oral copulation on a child and one count of possessing child pornography.

On Monday in Napa County Superior Court, during Rowell’s arraignment, the prosecution argued that he should be denied bail.

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Napa County Deputy District Attorney Rolando Mazariegos said Rowell and a then-15-year-old girl, identified in court only as Jane Doe, had been in a sexual relationship since last summer.

“Here you have somebody who has worked in the school system for a long time preying upon a 15-year-old,“ the prosecutor added. ”He has mandatory reporting duties and obviously didn’t report himself.“

Rowell’s private defense attorney, Amanda Bevins, described him as a father who comes from a family of educators. She said he is not a flight risk and poses no threat to his community.

She added that her client and his wife are both teachers and can’t afford bail surpassing $250,000.

“He has no prior criminal history. He’s been a school teacher since 2006 without incident,” Bevins told the judge.

According to Mazariegos, a criminal investigation began April 8 after Doe, now 16, reported the allegations to a school resource officer. Doe, officials added, initially denied she’d had sex with Rowell, but then said that she had.

“She described multiple acts of oral copulation. She described losing her virginity, at age 15, to the defendant,” Mazariegos said.

He added that the two engaged in sex acts while in the campus weight room, a janitorial closet, as well as in Rowell’s truck while it was parked in various places, including the school parking lot.

Mazariegos said investigators also found over 1,300 texts between Doe and Rowell. They included sexually explicit photos and videos of the teen, which the prosecutor said she provided Rowell upon his request.

Officials also confiscated Rowell’s computer and electronic devices, which contained evidence corroborating Doe’s statements, Mazariegos added.

“It turns out Mr. Rowell kept folders of various sex acts between he and Jane Doe,” Mazariegos said. “Specifically, there were pictures of Jane Doe being naked. Not only selfies ... but also pictures where it appears someone else is taking the picture.“

Bevins rejected Mazariegos’ statements and argued there wasn’t sufficient evidence to hold her client without bail.

“I don’t think anything that was presented meets the qualifications for no bail,“ Bevins said.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi