| For Immediate Release Case # 09HM07639
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Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER CONVICTED OF EXPOSING PENIS TO TWO WOMEN IN ORTHODONTIC OFFICE AND AT SCHOOL DISTRICT EVENT
NEWPORT BEACH – A junior high school music teacher was convicted today of exposing his penis to two women, an orthodontist’s receptionist during his son’s dental appointment and a fellow teacher at a school district event. Mark Gerard Petrash, 42, Lake Forest, was found guilty by a jury of two misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and one misdemeanor count of false imprisonment. He faces a maximum sentence of two years in jail and sex offender registration at his sentencing on Nov. 18, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. in Department H-12, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach.
On Aug. 24, 2009, Petrash took his son to an orthodontist appointment. His son went in to see the orthodontist and Petrash waited in the empty reception room. While alone in the waiting room, the defendant stood up, pulled up his shorts, and exposed his penis to orthodontic receptionist Jane Doe #1 while holding it out the leg of his shorts.
Jane Doe #1 reported the incident to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD). Following an investigation, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office charged Petrash with one misdemeanor count of indecent exposure. He was arrested by OCSD deputies on Oct. 1, 2009, at Serrano Intermediate School in Lake Forest. The defendant posted $10,000 bail, the standard bail for the charged crime, on Oct. 5, 2009, and appeared in court for his arraignment on Oct. 29, 2009.
After viewing the media coverage of the arrest of Petrash, Jane Doe #2, a teacher in the same school district as the defendant, came forward to police. On the night of May 8, 2009, Petrash was attending a Saddleback Valley Unified School District event. He followed Jane Doe #2 into a hotel restroom and entered her restroom stall. Petrash stood between the victim and the door and exposed and rubbed his penis. He put his finger over his mouth, indicating that Jane Doe #2 should be quiet. The victim was able to escape from the restroom stall.
During the trial, Petrash claimed that he did not expose his penis to Jane Doe #1, and that Jane Doe #2 had agreed to go with him into the men’s restroom to expose her breasts to Petrash.
Deputy District Attorney Marc Caress is prosecuting this case.
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