| For Immediate Release Case # 08CF1927
August 18, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
FORMER HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CONVICTED
OF ATTEMPTING TO EXTORT MONEY AND PORNOGRAPHIC PHOTOS FROM BAND
INSTRUCTOR OVER SEX WITH ANOTHER STUDENT
*Female high school band instructor charged in separate case with having unlawful sex with 15-year-old male student
SANTA ANA – A former high school student was convicted today of attempting to extort money and pornographic photos from a high school band instructor after contacting her over the Internet and threatening to report that she was having a sexual relationship with a minor. Miguel Lopez, 23, Anaheim, pleaded guilty to one felony count of extortion and was sentenced to three years of informal probation. He faces 180 days in jail if he violates probation.
In a separate case, high school band instructor Carlie Rose Attebury, 30, Orange, (Case # 08CF3103) is charged with two felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, two felony counts of oral copulation of a minor, two felony counts of sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor, five felony counts of lewd acts on child, one felony count of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, and two misdemeanor counts of violating a protective order. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of nine years and four months in state prison. Attebury is out of custody on $250,000 bail and is scheduled for continued arraignment on Sept. 22, 2009, in Department C-5, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. Deputy District Attorney Nikki Buracchio of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting the Attebury case.
Attebury is accused of meeting a 15-year-old male student, John Doe, while working at El Modena High School in Orange. On numerous occasions between February and September 2008, Attebury is accused of having unlawful sex with the student at her home in Orange. She is accused of illegally engaging in digital penetration, oral copulation, and intercourse with the victim.
Lopez, a former El Modena High School student, learned of the unlawful sexual relationship after hearing about it from other former students. Between May and June 2008, Lopez contacted Attebury on several occasions using a MySpace account under a fake name. Lopez confronted Attebury and told her that he would report that she was having a sexual relationship with a student to school authorities if she did not confess to the school on her own. Days later, Lopez again contacted Attebury on MySpace using the fake name and offered not to report her unlawful sexual relationship in exchange for money.
Lopez then stopped using the MySpace account and began contacting Attebury through a Yahoo! e-mail account. Lopez demanded $20,000 from Attebury. Believing that Attebury could not afford $20,000 on her high school teacher income, Lopez changed his demand to $3,500 with the condition that Attebury e-mail sexually explicit photos of herself to him
On June 16, 2008, Attebury is accused of going to the Orange Police Department (OPD) to report that she was the victim of an extortion attempt. She is accused of falsely claiming that she did not have an unlawful sexual relationship with John Doe or send pornographic images of herself to Lopez.