Man admits extorting money, nude photos from teacher
Personal Injury News
Article Date: 8/18/2009 | Resource: MLG
Man admits extorting money, nude photos from teacher
“He demanded money and explicit photos from high school band instructor in exchange for silence about sex with minor.”
An Anaheim man pleaded guilty today to extortion for contacting a high school band instructor and demanding money and pornographic photos in exchange for keeping silent about allegations she was having sex with a minor.
Miguel Lopez, 23, Anaheim, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals to three years probation pursuant to a plea negotiated with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Lopez first contacted El Modena High band instructor Carlie Rose Attebury in the spring of 2008 using a fake name on a MySpace account, threatening to expose her sexual relationship with a male student if she did not confess on her own, according to a statement released today from the District Attorney’s Office.
Days later, Lopez again contacted Attebury, 30, of Orange, again using a fake name, this time demanding money in exchange for his silence, according to Senior Trial Counsel Todd Spitzer, who prosecuted the case.
Lopez later switched to a Yahoo! e-mail account and demanded at first $20,000 from Attebury, and then later reducing that down to $3,500 plus some sexually explicit photos, Spitzer said.
But Attebury — after initially complying with some of the demands by e-mailing nude photos of herself — later went to the Orange Police Department on June 16, 2008 and reported that she was being extorted.
When Lopez was arrested at his Anaheim apartment four days later, he had pornographic images of Attebury on his computer.
Attebury was arrested on Oct. 13, 2008, after Orange Police detectives conducted a follow-up investigation.
She is charged with unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation of a minor sexual penetration by foreign object of minor, lewd acts on child, 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.
Her case was continued today for arraignment in Superior Court on Sept. 22,
Attebury is accused of meeting a 15-year-old male student while working at El Modena High and engaging in various sex acts with him on numerous occasions between February and September 2008 at her home in Orange.
Lopez, a former El Modena High School student, learned of the unlawful sexual relationship after hearing about it from other former students in May of 2008 in a band group of then current and former high school musicians called the Vanguard Percussion Ensemble. Lopez said he played bass drum in the ensemble.
After the original criminal charges were filed against Attebury for the unlawful sexual relationship, a judge issued a protective order barring her from having any contact with the male student she is charged with molesting or any other student.
Attebury then allegedly violated that protective order by communicating over the Internet on one occasion with the male student and on one occasion with a female student.
For more information regarding this article please contact:
Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com