San Diego Superior Court. Photo by Chris Stone
One of two former employees of the El-Cajon-based Christian Youth Theater charged with sexually abusing underage students in the program pleaded guilty Friday.
Brad Christian Davis, 41, pleaded guilty to a sexual penetration by a foreign object count stemming from a 2010 incident, which the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office says involved a then-16-year-old girl.
Davis remains out of custody pending sentencing, scheduled for early August.
Davis’ attorney, David P. Shapiro, said in a statement, “Today’s guilty plea and acceptance of responsibility hopefully marks the beginning of the healing process for Mr. Davis’ accuser. He wishes to apologize for the pain he has caused, and has wanted to do so for quite some time.”
Last year, the DA’s Office charged Davis and another former CYT employee, David Hott, for alleged sexual abuse involving underage victims.
Hott, whose case remains pending, is charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child allegedly involving a 13-year-old girl, which prosecutors say occurred in 2007.
In 2020, Christian Youth Theater President Janie Russell Cox announced that a number of the theater’s San Diego chapters would be shut down on an indefinite basis following a flood of allegations posted on social media by former students and employees alleging incidents of sexual abuse.
The theater, which was founded in 1980, is an after-school theater arts program with affiliates across the nation.
City News Service contributed to this article.