More students accuse Fresno High teacher of inappropriate contact

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- More students have come forward to accuse a Fresno High band teacher of having inappropriate contact with them.

Now, a total of 3 students are accusing the band director of inappropriately touching them within the last month.

Last week 38-year-old John Veloz Jr. was arrested by the Fresno Police Department for allegedly having on-campus sexual encounters with one of his students.

Police officers say the sex acts happened in Veloz's office multiple times during school hours.

On Wednesday, Veloz was still in custody and pleaded not guilty to those charges.

"The judge did order a criminal protective order, basically saying this defendant, if he were to be released and even while in custody, to have no contact with the confidential victim," says District Attorney Dennis Verzosa.

Now, Veloz could be facing more charges after two more students have made reports of being inappropriately touched by the instructor.

"Whenever you have an incident like this on a campus, it's highly unlikely that it was a one-time occurrence and we knew that there would be other victims," says Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.

Chief Dyer says the Fresno Unified School District brought in counselors to talk with Fresno High students, and during one of those sessions, a 16-year-old confessed he was touched by Veloz.

Later, police officers contacted a 17-year-old student who claimed to be another victim and officers believe there could be more.

"We know this band teacher has had contact with a lot of students over the years, he's a band teacher, and what we're hoping for whether its students at Fresno High School or anywhere else, that those individuals will come forward if, in fact, they believe there was inappropriate behavior by the band teacher," says Chief Dyer.

Veloz was booked into the Fresno County jail on $150,000 bail for lewd acts with the first victim and is expected to be back in court for that next week.

The district attorney is now reviewing these two most recent cases for more charges to be added.