Ex-Vintage teacher goes to prison

Estrada gets seven years in Sonoma molestation case

By DAVID RYAN
Register City Editor

A former Vintage High School math teacher has been sentenced to seven years in state prison for sexually molesting a male teen.

Sonoma County Superior Court Visiting Judge Julie Conger sentenced  Josefat (Joe) Estrada, 35, to seven years and four months in state prison last week, according to Estrada’s Napa-based attorney, Jeffrey Hammond.

In May, Estrada entered a no contest plea to three charges related to sexual acts with a person under the age of 18. He also agreed to register as a sex offender and give up his teaching credential.

Hammond said Conger did not give Estrada the maximum sentence of nine years and four months behind bars, and credited Estrada with 344 days of time already served in jail.

Hammond said Estrada entered the plea as a result of a deal with prosecutors. On May 8, Sonoma County prosecutors dropped seven of 10 original molestation-related charges against Estrada.

Estrada’s conviction stems from incidents with a boy who lived with him in Sonoma County that began in August 2005 when the boy was 14 and continued through July 2007.

Police arrested Estrada in November 2008 at his Napa home.

The boy, now  an adult, was never a student at Vintage High School.

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009