A physician who volunteered to work at Newport Harbor High School’s sporting events was sentenced Friday to a year in jail for sending sexually charged messages to girls on the cheerleader squad.
David Lee Haller, 55, was convicted Aug. 29 of two misdemeanor counts of child annoyance.
Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly ordered Haller to spend 182 days behind bars and rejected requests for home confinement and electronic monitoring, but 183 days will be suspended if he clears one year of formal probation, according to court records. Kelly also ordered Haller to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
One of the girls, who was 15 at the time, said she received a message through Instagram on Aug. 30, 2017, from Haller, masquerading as a 14-year-old girl from Ensign Middle School seeking information about the cheerleading team, according to a trial brief prepared by Deputy District Attorney David McMurrin.
In the message he also asked her if she was “wearing pink spanx yesterday” because “they were cute,” McMurrin said. He also asked her if boys ever tried to look up the skirts of cheerleaders, prompting the teen to block him, McMurrin said.
But Haller continued to message her on Snapchat from a “miaperv” account, McMurrin said.
Another teen, who was 15, said she received Snapchat messages from that account on Oct. 27, 2017, McMurrin said. Haller asked if he could donate money to her, the prosecutor said.
On Nov. 3, 2017, Haller messaged the girl saying he saw her bend over at the game and felt guilty about watching her, McMurrin said. Haller was also accused of sending messages to two other girls but was not charged with those allegations.
When a school resource officer confronted Haller about the messages, he said he “liked watching cheerleaders and wanted to compensate them for what they did,” McMurrin said.