A former California High School history teacher and junior varsity basketball coach received a 90-day jail sentence Thursday after admitting a sexual relationship with a former student, who was 17 at the time, officials said.
John Gilbert Orellano, 37, pleaded “no contest” to a felony charge of unlawful sexual intercourse in late July, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s officials said. The plea was made as part of a plea agreement in which an addition charge of unlawful sexual intercourse, as well as two counts of oral copulation with a minor, were dismissed.
As expected under the plea agreement, Orellano was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years of probation at his sentencing in Norwalk Superior Court, court officials said. He will not be required to register as a sex offender.
Orellano, who has been free since posting $240,000 bail three days after his arrest on May 15, was immediately taken into custody to begin serving his sentence, according to county booking records.
Authorities began investigating Orellano in March after learning of allegations that he had sent sexually explicit text messages to a 17-year-old female student at California High School, in an unincorporated county area south of Whittier, according to Sgt. Nancy Drake of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau.
As the investigation progressed, detectives learned that Orellano and the student had sex in February, prosecutors said.
Orellano was immediately placed on leave once the allegations came to light, and he resigned from his position two days later, officials said. He has worked for the Whittier Union High School District for two years.