A physician accused of sending “sexually motivated” messages to 2 highschool cheerleaders by utilizing pretend names on social media whereas volunteering at a Newport Seashore campus was sentenced Friday to 6 months in jail.
David Lee Haller, a household follow doctor, was additionally sentenced to a 12 months of formal probation — with a further 183 days in jail averted pending completion of his supervised launch — and ordered to register as a intercourse offender after he was convicted of two misdemeanor counts of kid annoyance.
Haller, now 55, was accused of sending to 2 15-year-year-old Newport Harbor Excessive college students messages in late-2017 that relations have mentioned “terrified” the ladies and made them really feel like they have been being stalked. On the time, Haller was a volunteer for the UC Irvine Spirit Cheerleading staff who additionally labored as a physician at a number of Newport Harbor Excessive College occasions.
In accordance with prosecutors, Haller first contacted one of many teenagers by way of a direct message on Instagram wherein he pretended to be a center college cheerleader and requested about highschool cheer costumes and whether or not boys ever tried to lookup their skirts. When the lady blocked him, prosecutors say Haller used a Snapchat account to once more ask her about cheerleading uniforms and to ask if he might donate cash to her whereas implying he had been watching her.
Haller used Snapchat to message the second lady, prosecutors mentioned, telling her that he noticed her at a recreation and within the course of describing precisely the place she had been positioned amongst different cheerleaders. Haller additionally advised the teenager that he noticed her bend over and felt responsible about watching her.
Prosecutors allege that Haller additionally messaged two different lady’s, although he was circuitously charged in reference to these messages. A coach on the college reached out to authorities after realizing that an unknown individual had been reaching out to a number of cheerleaders on social media, and had immediately contacted a few of them.
Haller initially denied to a college useful resource officer that he was behind the messages, prosecutors mentioned, till the officer mentioned they'd linked the social media accounts that had contacted the ladies to his telephone.
In accordance with prosecutors, Haller then advised the college useful resource officer that if the messages got here from him or another person that they weren’t meant to be threatening or harassing, including that he loved watching cheerleaders and saying that 16-year-olds “seem like” 18-year-olds and “he seems to be at them regardless that he is aware of he shouldn't.”
Prosecutors in a sentencing temporary argued that the ladies Haller messaged have been notably weak attributable to their age, that he confirmed planning and class by utilizing a number of social media accounts with pretend names and that he took benefit of the entry he had as a physician and volunteer.
An lawyer representing Haller beforehand wrote in a court docket submitting that Haller by no means tried to begin a private relationship with any of the teenager cheerleaders by way of social media and by no means reached out to them in individual.