VISTA — A former dance teacher accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl while she was a student at a Carlsbad dance studio pleaded not guilty on Thursday to six felony counts of child sexual assault.
Ledarnay Fontenette Luckie, 39, of Encinitas (previously identified by the Carlsbad Police Department as Ledarnay Luckie Fontenette) entered his not guilty plea in Vista Superior Court during his arraignment on Thursday, which had been rescheduled from the week prior.
The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office has charged Luckie with six counts of lewd and lascivious act upon a child aged 14 and 15. According to Carlsbad police, the survivor in the case, who is now an adult, reported in December that Luckie had sexually abused her while she was attending the Carlsbad Performing Arts Academy.
After several months of investigation, Luckie was arrested on April 29. He was released on $400,000 bail shortly afterward.
The alleged abuse occurred between 2011 and 2013 when the victim was 14 to 15 years old. According to the criminal complaint, Luckie kissed the girl and touched her in the vaginal area both at the dance studio and in a car.
Deputy District Attorney Claudia Plascencia said Luckie was a prominent figure in the dance community for many years, and people in the community deserve to know what occurred.
“Child abuse occurs behind closed doors. It doesn’t happen in the open where there tend to be eyewitnesses and surveillance footage, and so it does make these cases particularly challenging,” said Plascencia. “But we have a strong victim that is willing to go through this process and is seeking justice for herself, and so the People are confident that we will be able to prove this case.”
At the time, Luckie was a decade older than the victim, per the complaint.
Carlsbad Performing Arts Academy stated after the arrest that Luckie has not worked at the academy in over eight years, and said they do not believe any current students have been affected.
Carlsbad Police reported that two other women also reported being similarly abused by Luckie while attending dance classes at the same studio when they were teenagers. However, the DA’s Office was unable to file charges related to these incidents, according to Plascencia.
“There are additional witnesses that came forward to report activity, but it wasn’t activity that was able to be charged at this stage,” Plascencia said.
Judge Brian Erickson agreed to impose a criminal protective order preventing Luckie from contacting the victim, whose identity was withheld. He is also prohibited from being around children under the age of 16 in a dance class capacity.
The District Attorney’s Office also requested that the court impose a condition allowing search and seizure of Luckie’s electronics, to ensure he is not communicating with the victim or witnesses in the case.
Defense Attorney Jacqueline Goodman pushed back against this.
“He was a dance instructor, but has not been a dance instructor for a number of years. He is not in contact with minors on a regular basis, and there’s no indication, at least as far as I know, that he’s been in touch with any of these accusers in a number of years,” Goodman said.
The judge declined to impose the condition regarding electronics, but ruled that Luckie will have to submit himself to a search of his person.
Luckie’s next court appearance will be on July 30. He most recently worked as a hair stylist at his Solana Beach salon, LuckieStyles.
Carlsbad Police said in April that they believe there may be other victims who have not been identified. Along with Carlsbad Performing Arts Academy, investigators also confirmed that Luckie worked at DanceFX studio in San Marcos between 2011 and 2017.
Anyone with information related to this case is encouraged to contact Detective Paige Haar of the Carlsbad Police Department at 760-579-2824 or [email protected].
If you or someone you love has been sexually assaulted or abused, you can reach out to RAINN’s Sexual Assault Hotline by calling 800-656-HOPE or texting HOPE to 64673, or visit rainn.org/help-and-healing/hotline.
