Ray Anthony Waller, 38, was federally charged with sexual exploitation of a child, receipt of child sexual abuse images, and sending obscene material to a minor in June 2025. He changed his plea to guilty on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026.
FRESNO POLICE DEPARTMENT
Tuesday brought a stack of notable developments across the central San Joaquin Valley, from courtrooms in Kings County to a contested Fresno City Council race. The Fresno Bee’s reporting this week covered a guilty plea in a child exploitation case, a sitting judge charged in a cyclist’s death and a survey drawing accusations of bigotry.
The California Department of Justice charged Kings County Superior Court Jude Kendra Weber with one count of vehicular manslaughter. Mary Garcia State of California Here are the top stories of the dayBullard teacher pleads guilty in child exploitation case with Fresno student: Ray Anthony Waller, 39, changed his plea Monday to guilty on all three federal counts, including sexual exploitation of a child, receipt of child sexual abuse images and sending obscene material to a minor. He faces 15 to 30 years in prison on the exploitation count alone at his Dec. 14 sentencing and is no longer employed by the Fresno Unified School District. Court records show Waller and the student engaged in sexual activity on campus in a photo studio and that investigators recovered lewd photos and videos from a “burner” phone. His attorney, Richard Mehdi Oberto, said Waller “is extremely remorseful about the harm he caused the victim” and accepts full responsibility.Kings County judge charged with vehicular manslaughter in bicyclist’s death: The California Department of Justice charged Kings County Superior Court Judge Kendra D. Weber with one count of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence in the Sept. 15, 2025, death of bicyclist Bryan Leroy Garcia, 63. The California Highway Patrol said Weber’s 2019 Subaru Forrester struck Garcia from behind on Hanford Armona Road after failing to allow sufficient clearance, ejecting him. Weber, a 2023 appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, was not cited or arrested at the time, and no court date has yet been set for the single charge filed Monday.Survey asks about Fresno candidate’s age, religion, turban. Called out as ‘racist’: A Survey Monkey poll sent to District 7 voters in early September asked whether a candidate’s religious background or traditional cultural attire such as a turban would affect their vote, and whether a 26-year-old candidate would win their support. The questions appear aimed at attorney Nav Gurm, 26, who would be Fresno’s first councilmember of Sikh heritage and is running against community advocate Ariana Martinez Lott, 39, for the open seat being vacated by termed-out Councilmember Nelson Esparza. Both candidates said they did not commission the poll and condemned it as racist. It remains unclear who commissioned the survey, which was conducted by an entity called Political Opinion Research.
Original stories by Thaddeus Miller and David Taub
This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media’s AI policy.
This story was originally published September 16, 2026 at 5:47 AM.
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