Police said students found a cellphone recording them while changing, and Jeffrey Pribble was arrested on the school campus the next day.
TRACY, Calif. — Tracy High School teacher and head football coach Jeffrey Pribble, 48, was arrested Sept. 11 after police said investigators linked him to a cellphone that students found recording them while they changed inside an on-campus locker room.
The arrest followed a report to Tracy police on the evening of Sept. 10 and has led to separate law enforcement and school district investigations. Tracy Unified School District placed Pribble on leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Police have not publicly identified the students involved, and authorities had not announced specific criminal charges in the public information available through Sunday.
According to the Tracy Police Department, patrol officers were contacted by a concerned parent after a student reported finding a cellphone recording students in the locker room. Investigators later learned that the student and several classmates had seen the device recording while they were changing. Police said the students stopped the recording, deleted the video and gave the phone to a teacher.
School resource officers and detectives assigned to the Police Department’s General Investigations Unit continued working on the case Sept. 11. Police said investigators determined that the cellphone belonged to Pribble. Officers then arrested him at Tracy High School that day. The department has not publicly said how long the recording had been running, whether the deleted footage was recovered or whether investigators found any other recordings.
Police Chief Sekou Millington said the department was focused on student safety and privacy as investigators worked through the case. “Our children deserve to feel safe at school,” Millington said in the department’s announcement. He also thanked the students for bringing the incident to adults and praised officers and detectives for their response.
Tracy High Principal Jon Waggle addressed the arrest in a message to families without naming Pribble or detailing the allegations. Waggle said the district was cooperating with law enforcement and acknowledged the concern the arrest could cause among families. “We understand that this news may raise serious concerns in the District community,” he wrote. The district said it would continue working with police and take steps it considered necessary to protect students.
School and football program records listed Pribble as Tracy High’s varsity football head coach before the arrest. Local reporting says he joined the Tracy High football program in 2003 and became the varsity head coach in 2021. The school’s athletics page also identified him as the football coach and listed him as a district employee. Those employment and coaching records provide background on his role at the school but do not establish anything about the allegations under investigation.
The arrest came during the early weeks of Tracy High’s 2026 football season. Pleasanton Weekly reported that assistant coach Justin Evans handled coaching duties when Tracy played at Lathrop on Friday night, the same day Pribble was arrested. The Bulldogs won 56-0 and moved to 3-0. The district has not publicly announced a permanent change in leadership for the football program.
Local police confirmed Saturday that detectives were continuing to interview students. The Tracy Police Department’s public statement did not specify the offense for which Pribble was arrested, and Stocktonia reported Saturday evening that no charges had been announced. Authorities also have not publicly disclosed a motive or said whether they believe the incident involved additional students or other alleged recordings.
Pribble’s arrest is an allegation, not a determination of guilt. It was not clear Sunday whether he had retained an attorney to respond publicly. The police investigation remained active, while Pribble remained on leave from the district. Detectives have asked people with information related to the case to contact the Tracy Police Department.
Author note: Last updated September 13, 2026.