Travis Shojinaga

Introduction

Travis Takeshi Shojinaga is a former longtime elementary-school teacher at Viewpoint School, an elite private school in Calabasas, California, who was arrested on campus in February 2026 and charged with possession of child sexual abuse material and the molestation of multiple female students. Prosecutors in Los Angeles County allege that he secretly recorded fourth- and fifth-grade girls, and he has pleaded not guilty to all charges; the criminal case is pending. In September 2026 a new civil lawsuit brought renewed attention to the case by accusing the school of having dismissed a parent complaint about his conduct more than a year before his arrest — allegations the school has not publicly answered in the reporting covered here.

Background Information

Shojinaga, born August 16, 1986, is a resident of Sylmar in Los Angeles who worked at Viewpoint School for ten years, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Viewpoint is a private school serving transitional kindergarten through twelfth grade, with tuition the New York Post reported at $54,000 a year.

He was charged in case 26VWCF00455 with one felony count of possession of child abuse material and four counts of child molestation, which the Post reported as misdemeanors. The case is prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Cindy Wallace of the Sex Crimes Division, with investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegation, not adjudication. Shojinaga has been charged but not tried: he has pleaded not guilty to all counts and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. The accounts below are drawn from prosecutorial filings and announcements and from a civil lawsuit whose claims are contested allegations, not findings.

Shojinaga was arrested on Viewpoint’s campus on February 25, 2026, after an 11-year-old student reported that he was secretly taking inappropriate photographs of female students, according to the District Attorney’s Office, which alleges he took secret and intimate photographs of at least four students. Court filings cited by the New York Post allege that he recorded videos up the shirts of the fourth- and fifth-grade girls he taught by bending down as if to pick up trash or tie his shoe.

After his arrest, he told authorities he had an “addiction” and had taken 50 to 60 recordings, and said taking and viewing the photos made his “heart race,” according to court filings.

A civil lawsuit filed by parents in September 2026 claims the warning signs surfaced far earlier. The suit alleges that in December 2024 — more than a year before the arrest — a student and another girl reported that Shojinaga had been sitting with them at lunch while placing his telephone beneath the table, making them uncomfortable, and that the conduct was not limited. When a parent took the complaint to Claudia Antoine, the head of lower school, she expressed surprise that he would be interested in girls, commenting “he bats for the other team,” the papers say. The suit argues Viewpoint characterized the child’s concern as a possible “misunderstanding” and made no meaningful attempt to determine whether the allegation was true, including inspecting his phone.

In the stretch between that report and the arrest, other incidents were reported, the suit says: one child standing on a chair claimed Shojinaga came immediately behind her with his telephone out, and students worked out a hand signal to warn each other when he approached, avoiding him by going to the girls’ bathroom. The Post reported that Viewpoint was contacted for comment; the article records no school statement. Antoine retired in 2025 after 35 years, according to the school’s Facebook page as cited by the Post.

Public Reaction and Consequences

District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman called the accusations “disgusting and deliberate violations of children’s safety, dignity and rights,” and his office said it believes there may be additional victims, urging anyone with information to contact law enforcement or Crime Stoppers.

At his February 27, 2026 arraignment Shojinaga pleaded not guilty to all charges. Prosecutors asked that he be held without bail; the court instead set bail at $1,000,000, and he was later reported free on that bail. The families behind the civil suit, who are unnamed to protect their children, are seeking economic damages from Viewpoint including payments for medical and psychological expenses.

Current Status

Shojinaga is free on $1 million bail, and a court-granted protective order requires him to stay away from his alleged victims and from Viewpoint; his next court date is November 11, per the Post’s September 2026 report. The criminal charges remain pending, and the District Attorney’s Office says the investigation is ongoing. The civil suit against the school is also pending, and available reporting does not record any public statement from Viewpoint on his employment status.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The arrest ended a ten-year career at one of California’s most expensive private schools, where prosecutors say he used his classroom position to target the fourth- and fifth-grade students he taught. If convicted as charged, he faces up to seven years in state prison and a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender. For Viewpoint, the litigation alleges institutional failures in handling the 2024 complaint and seeks damages for the families’ medical and psychological costs, keeping the school’s conduct at issue alongside the criminal case.

Sources

• New York Post, “Exclusive | Elite Calabasas school covered up teacher’s sick photos of school girls because ‘he bats for the other team:’ suit,” Sept. 27, 2026 — source
• Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office (lacounty.gov), “Calabasas School Teacher Charged With Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material, Molestation of Female Students,” Feb. 27, 2026 — source