Teacher from Napa Christian Accused of Molesting Girl Younger than 16

A preliminary hearing is set July 29 for a local fly-fishing outfitter and Seventh-day Adventist school teacher who is accused of sexually molesting a girl in Napa.

Mike Copithorne, 36, has been charged with three counts of lewd acts and one count of oral copulation. The victim in all four counts is under 16, according to court records.

Copithorne has been teaching for nine years at the private K-12 school , which is operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church, court records show.

Phone calls from Napa Patch to the office of education for the Northern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists were not returned.

Napa County Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael O'Reilly declined to confirm if there is more than one victim, and if the victim(s) were students at Napa Christian.

Copithorne was arrested last month on a warrant.

The court record states one of the alleged molestations happened when Copithorne picked up the alleged victim from her home and drove to the Lucky’s parking lot in Napa where he touched, kissed and orally copulated her.

The other accusations allegedly took place in a classroom and involved kissing the alleged victim.

During a pretext phone call by the alleged victim to Copithorne, which was recorded by police investigators, Copithorne made incriminating statements to the female victim, court records said.

Copithorne has lived at least 10 years in Napa, according to the court records, is married and has a son.

He is also owns and operates Off the Hook Fly Fishing Travel, Inc. in Napa. A biography on the company's website describes him as a professional athlete who grew up in Northern California.

In 2000, he suffered a snowboarding accident which left him paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair, according to an article in Orvis News.

Copithorne is out of custody after posting a $100,000 bail. His preliminary is set for Friday at .