UPDATE, MARCH 4, 2:52 P.M.: Former El Modena High School band teacher Carlie Rose Attebury was sentenced today to 16 months in prison for having sex with a then-15-year-old boy who was her drum major.
The 31-year-old Orange resident must also register as a sex offender for life.
She was also ordered to avoid any future contact with the teen.
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As Superior Court Judge James A. Stotler was saying, before announcing the sentence, that he thought Attebury's crimes
required a prison stretch to protect society, punish her and send a message to others, the ex-band teacher began to cry, reports the Orange County Register.
Those should have been tears of joy: Stotler could have put her away for five years.
While on the stand at trial, Attebury admitted to having sex with two other male students but claimed it was after they turned 18.
UPDATE, NOV. 24, 2010, 7:04 P.M.: Former El Modena High School band teacher Carlie Rose Attebury, 31, of Orange, was convicted today of four felony county of having sex with an underage male student.
She could get up to five years in state prison at her Jan. 7 sentencing, according to prosecutors.
So, how did she take the reading of the verdict?
By weeping loudly.
Attebury was found guilty of one count of unlawful sexual intercourse,
two counts of oral copulation of a minor under 16, and one count of
sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor.
She was acquitted of
one count of lewd acts on a child and one count of dissuading a witness
from reporting a crime.
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ORIGINAL UPDATED POST, NOV. 17, 2010, 11:04 A.M.: El Modena High School of Orange's Band and Color Guard took first place at the recent Field Show Competition at Riverside Community College. Combined with multiple wins at Mission Viejo High School's Marching Show, El Mo is in first place overall in Southern California.
I'll leave it to you to insert your own joke about how this relates to the school's 31-year-old band teacher Carlie Rose Attebury, who is accused of having an illegal sexual affair with a then-16-year-old drum major.
The Orange resident's defense of the multiple child sex charges she is facing in a Santa Ana courtroom this week is this: parents and other students are jealous that she chose the boy to be the band's drum major.
Prosecutors refer to him by a different title: “victim.” He testified this week that a crush he had on Attebury as a sophomore became a homecoming kiss with her when he was 15 and a full blown sexual affair after he turned 16, the Orange County Register reports.
This morning, the Santa Ana daily reports the Orange County District Attorney's Office has dismissed one felony charge of unlawful sex with a minor that had been filed against Attebury. Deputy DA Katherine David explained the victim testified he had his clothes on during one sexual encounter he had with the teacher, thus disqualifying that particular unlawful sex charge.
Now, Attebury faces a single felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, while the one felony count of lewd acts on a child, two felony counts of oral copulation of a minor under 16, one felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor, and one felony count of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime remain.
Dropping the felony charge shaves eight months off the maximum state prison sentence Attebury could get if convicted of all the original counts. She's now looking at six years and four months in the pen, plus she'd to register as a sex offender, if found guilty.
Attebury is accused of telling the 15-year-old boy she loved him, saying they would get married and having sex with him multiple times in the classroom and her home. Another student discovered the affair and tried to blackmail the teacher, who went to police, denied the affair and got the accuser busted.
But, as the Orange County District Attorney's Office statement below reveals, Attebury was also seen by students and parents straddling the 15-year-old boy with her legs and caressing his hair in the bleachers at a school event.
Needless to say, they were creeped out.
November 12, 2010
FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL BAND TEACHER FACES TRIAL FOR UNLAWFUL SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH 15-YEAR-OLD MALE STUDENT
SANTA ANA – A female high school band teacher faces trial tomorrow for having an unlawful sexual relationship with a 15-year-old male high school student. Carlie Rose Attebury, 31, Orange, is charged with two felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, one felony count of lewd acts on a child, two felony counts of oral copulation of a minor under 16, one felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor, and one felony count of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime. If convicted on all counts, Attebury faces a maximum sentence of seven years in state prison and sex offender registration. Opening statements are expected to begin Monday, Nov. 15, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-41, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Attebury is accused of meeting John Doe, a 15-year-old student, while working at El Modena High School in Orange as the band teacher. She is accused of gaining the trust of the victim and his family by befriending them, including having dinner at their home. The defendant is accused of manipulating the victim's emotions by telling him she loved him and talking about marriage and a future together. Attebury is accused of exchanging hundreds of text messages with the victim, many of which were sexually explicit
In November 2007, Attebury is accused of having her first illegal sexual contact with the victim by kissing John Doe in her classroom on campus. Between November 2007 and September 2008, Attebury is accused of having an unlawful sexual relationship with John Doe on a regular basis at her home in Orange. She is accused of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation, and digital penetration with the victim.
In June 2008, while continuing to have an unlawful sexual relationship with John Doe, Attebury is accused of going to the Orange Police Department (OPD) to report that she was the victim of an extortion attempt 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 is accused of denying her ongoing 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, Attebury is accused of sitting behind John Doe in the bleachers at a school event. She is accused of having 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 is accused of having a phone conversation with the victim and encouraging him not to cooperate with the investigation.
Deputy District Attorney Katherine David of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting this case.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.