Mendocino Court released a redacted 33-page search warrant Wednesday.
The teenager whose interview with Ukiah police led to the arrest of Ukiah High School teacher Matthew LaFever on November 3 was a student in his journalism class, according to a search warrant submitted by Detective Zhonghao Chen and approved by Superior Court Judge Patrick Pekin at 6:54 p.m. Oct. 16, 2025.
LaFever was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of knowingly annoying and/or molesting a minor. Ukiah police also said they collected evidence suggesting LaFever was reaching out to other minors in Mendocino and Sonoma counties using various social media platforms.
LaFever has not responded to repeated attempts by Mendo Local to contact him.
Dan Dougherty, communications and community engagement officer at the Ukiah Unified School District, said LaFever was working part-time and teaching three classes: work experience, journalism and advanced journalism.
The 33-page search warrant was filed in Superior Court this week and released in redacted form on Wednesday. Mendo Local reviewed the warrant at the Ukiah courthouse.
According to the warrant, the teenager told officers she created a Snapchat account under an alias and was added by LaFever, whose phone number she had saved in her contacts. During their chats, she received multiple shirtless selfies from LaFever. He also made two sexual comments quoted in the warrant: “Does your butt and thighs look sexy in them?” and “You must be the sexiest woman at your high school.”
During their exchange, the teen told LaFever multiple times that she was 17 — her actual age. The warrant does not state that she told LaFever she was a Ukiah High School student, nor does it claim that LaFever knew he was communicating with one of his own students.
The warrant describes Snapchat as a platform known for “disappearing images,” which notify senders when recipients view or attempt to screenshot the ephemeral data. “Screenshots can indeed be captured if a user does it quickly, and the sender is always notified about it right away,” the warrant states. “Despite this notification feature, there exist several methods and apps capable of covertly saving snaps and bypassing this feature.”
The warrant asserts probable cause that the items to be searched and seized (1) were used as the means of committing a felony; (2) tend to show that a felony has been committed or that a particular person committed a felony; and (3) tend to show sexual exploitation of a child or the depiction of sexual conduct involving a person under age 18.
In addition to searching LaFever’s Hopland home and seizing his electronics, the warrant authorized officers to take “photographs or videos … of LaFever’s upper body, unclothed.”
Based on the warrant, officers on Oct. 17 seized a cellphone/iPhone, an Apple Watch, three laptops, a router and an SD card.
Police also requested that Snap Inc. turn over LaFever’s “My AI” records, including all recorded interactions and stored conversations with the My AI service.
My AI is a chatbot designed to answer trivia questions, offer shopping advice or suggest dinner ideas. It is not supposed to be used for political, sexual, harassing or deceptive content; spam; malware; content promoting violence, self-harm or human trafficking; or anything violating Snapchat’s Community Guidelines.
In addition to seeking My AI conversations, police requested records of LaFever’s communications with other Snapchat users, including full message content, usernames, timestamps and any interactions involving LaFever’s account, “johnnyender25.” “Such messages shall include deleted messages, if available,” the warrant states.
It is unclear how long the student and LaFever were in contact. The warrant does not include a timeline. It says detectives were unable to review LaFever’s Snapchat account because “the victim stated she was either blocked or deleted by LaFever as she was no longer able to find him.”
As of Nov. 14, the district attorney had not filed either misdemeanor or felony charges against LaFever. The statute of limitations for felony sex crimes in California depends on the specific offense and the victim’s age, but recent laws have significantly broadened the time window. Serious sex crimes such as continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 have no statute of limitations.
The arrest warrant has not been released and Ukiah Police Chief Tom Corning has not responded to an email seeking confirmation that LaFever was arrested on a Ramey warrant. Ramey warrants enable police to bypass the more typical procedure of presenting evidence to the district attorney before an arrest.
(mendolocal.news)
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