Ex-North County Dance Instructor Pleads Not Guilty To Sexual Abuse Of Teen

VISTA, CA — A former North County dance instructor pleaded not guilty Thursday to sex crimes involving an underage girl who attended one of the dance studios where he was employed.

Ledarnay Fontenette Luckie, 39, of Encinitas, also known as Darnay Luckie, was arrested last month by Carlsbad police after a woman reported being sexually abused by Luckie when she was a teenager.

The woman said at the time that she was attending classes at a dance studio located on Avenida Encinas in Carlsbad.

Police said Luckie worked at multiple studios between 2011 and 2017, including Carlsbad Performing Arts Academy and DanceFX in San Marcos.

While police said they identified two other women who reported similar abuse while attending dance classes, the criminal charges filed against Luckie appear to pertain to one victim, identified as Jane Doe in a criminal complaint.

Luckie is charged with six felony counts of lewd acts on a child between the ages of 14 and 15.

The complaint alleges the acts occurred between March of 2011 and March of 2013 and specifies that some of the alleged acts happened in a studio and in a car. Luckie would have been between 24 and 26 years old at the time.

He faces up to six years and four months in state prison if convicted of all charges.

Following Thursday's arraignment, a judge ruled Luckie could remain out of custody on $400,000 bail, but a Fourth Amendment waiver was imposed, meaning he can be searched by law enforcement without a warrant or probable cause.

Carlsbad police asked anyone with information related to the case to contact Detective Paige Haar at 760-579-2824 or Paige.Haar@carlsbadca.gov.

— City News Service