| For Immediate Release Case # 08CF3103 March 4, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL BAND TEACHER SENTENCED TO STATE PRISON FOR UNLAWFUL SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH 15-YEAR-OLD MALE STUDENT
SANTA ANA – A female high school band teacher was sentenced to 16 months in state prison and mandatory sex offender registration today for having an unlawful sexual relationship with a 15-year-old male high school student. Carlie Rose Attebury, 31, Orange, was convicted Nov. 24, 2010, of one felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse, two felony counts of oral copulation of a minor under 16, and one felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor.
Attebury met John Doe, a 15-year-old student, while working at El Modena High School in Orange as the band teacher. She gained the trust of the victim and his family by befriending them, including having dinner at their home. The defendant manipulated the victim’s emotions by telling him she loved him and talked about marriage and a future together. Attebury exchanged hundreds of text messages with the victim, many of which were sexually explicit.
In November 2007, Attebury had her first illegal sexual contact with the victim by kissing John Doe in her classroom on campus. Between November 2007 and September 2008, Attebury continued to have an unlawful sexual relationship with John Doe on a regular basis at her home in Orange. She engaged in unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation, and digital penetration with the victim.
In June 2008, while she continued to have an unlawful sexual relationship with John Doe, Attebury went to the Orange Police Department (OPD) to report that she was the victim of an extortion attempted by a former El Modena High School student, Miguel Lopez. Lopez contacted Attebury on MySpace and said he would report a prior sexual relationship that the defendant had with a former 18-year-old student and John Doe if she did not pay him $3,500 and send him sexually explicit photos of herself.
Attebury denied having an illegal sexual relationship with John Doe, which continued through the course of the extortion investigation. Lopez pleaded guilty to one felony count of extortion in August 2009 and was sentenced to three years of probation.
In October 2008, parent booster club members contacted the school principal after becoming alarmed by inappropriate behavior observed between Attebury and the victim. In one instance, witnesses saw Attebury sitting behind John Doe in the bleachers at a school event with her legs straddled on either side of him and caressing his hair in view of parents and other students.
The Principal at El Modena High School contacted OPD in October 2008. After OPD began investigating the possible sexual assault by Attebury of a current students, Attebury talked on the phone with the victim and encouraged him not to cooperate with the investigation.
Deputy District Attorney Katherine David of the Sexual Assault Unit prosecuted this case.