Ray Waller
Introduction
Ray Anthony Waller is a former teacher at Bullard High School in Fresno, California, whose February 2025 arrest on campus grew into a federal child exploitation case that ended his teaching career. On September 15, 2026, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced that Waller pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child, receipt of child sexual abuse material, and sending obscene material to a minor. According to court documents, the conduct at the center of the case occurred between November 2024 and February 2025, while Waller was still teaching at Bullard, when he exchanged messages with a minor that led the minor to produce and send explicit images. Waller, who was taken into custody after his arrest and later indicted by a federal grand jury, is scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces decades in prison. This page records what court records and news reporting establish about the case, and where it stands as sentencing approaches.
Background Information
Ray Anthony Waller, referred to in most coverage as Ray Waller, worked as a teacher at Bullard High School, a Fresno Unified School District campus in Fresno, California. At the time of his guilty plea, he was reported to be 39 years old; when the federal indictment was announced in June 2025, local outlets had described him as 37.
The period that drew law enforcement’s attention began in November 2024. Per court documents, between November 2024 and February 2025 Waller communicated with a minor while employed as a teacher at the school. Fresno police arrested him at Bullard High School in February 2025 — on Feb. 20, per the San Joaquin Valley Sun — in a case that involved a juvenile victim who was a student at Bullard. Bullard Principal Armen Torigian told parents at the time that Waller had been placed on leave and that Fresno Unified School District would fully cooperate with law enforcement.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
According to court documents, between November 2024 and February 2025, Waller communicated with a minor by sending text, voice, and iMessages that enticed the minor to create and transmit images of child sexual abuse material. Court documents say Waller sent obscene images of himself to the victim and convinced the victim to reciprocate with images of them engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Throughout that period, Waller was a teacher at Bullard High School.
The investigation was conducted by the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force — specifically the Fresno Police Department, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations. Officers arrested Waller at the school on Feb. 20, 2025, and the case then moved on two tracks. In state court, the Fresno County District Attorney’s office charged Waller after his arrest: ABC30 reported that prosecutors filed 38 charges, to which Waller pleaded not guilty on March 20, 2025, while the San Joaquin Valley Sun described ten felony counts that included lewd and lascivious acts with a juvenile, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, and use of a minor to sell or produce pornography.
In June 2025, a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment charging Waller with sexual exploitation of a child, receipt of child sexual abuse images, and sending obscene material to a minor. He remained detained as the case proceeded, with a detention hearing set for June 30, 2025.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Because the arrest happened on a school campus, the district’s response became part of the public record from the outset. Principal Armen Torigian communicated with parents that Waller had been placed on leave and that the district would cooperate fully with law enforcement. Local news outlets, including ABC30 and the San Joaquin Valley Sun, documented each step of the proceedings: the state charges and the March 2025 not-guilty plea, the June 2025 federal indictment, and the detention hearings that kept Waller in custody. Per 2025 reporting, Waller remained in federal custody while he awaited trials in both federal and state courts.
Current Status
On September 15, 2026, Waller pleaded guilty in federal court in Fresno to all three counts: sexual exploitation of a child, receipt of child sexual abuse material, and sending obscene material to a minor. The plea is an adjudicated court admission — Waller formally admitted the conduct in court — but it is not the final step in the case: sentencing has not yet occurred. U.S. District Judge Kirk E. Sherriff is scheduled to sentence Waller on December 14. For the sexual exploitation charge, he faces 15 to 30 years in prison and a potential $250,000 fine. The receipt count carries between 5 and 20 years plus a potential $250,000 fine, and the count for transmitting obscene material to a minor carries up to 10 years and a potential $250,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gappa is prosecuting the federal case.
As of the most recent reporting available, the parallel state case in Fresno County Superior Court stemming from the February 2025 arrest remained pending.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Waller’s career in education ended with his arrest at Bullard High School. He was placed on leave in the days that followed, and by the time of his June 2025 federal indictment, coverage identified him as a former Bullard teacher rather than a current one. Instead of returning to a classroom, he spent the months after his indictment in federal custody. His September 2026 guilty plea converted the charges into formally admitted crimes, and his December sentencing will determine a prison term measured in years — potentially decades — along with fines of up to $250,000 per count.
What was once a teaching career at a Fresno high school now exists in the public record chiefly through a federal child exploitation case that began, as court documents note, while he was still a teacher at the school.