SANTA MONICA—On Wednesday, October 21, a former English teacher at Marlborough School in Hancock Park pleaded guilty to having sexual relations with two female students, according to a press release from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
Joseph Thomas Koetters, 48, had a two-year relationship with a 16-year-old female student back in 2000, which resulted in a pregnancy that miscarried.
Koetters was already facing charges of sexual abuse against one female student when a second female student, also 16, came forward earlier this year. She claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Koetters from February to June in 2004. Neither of the victims’ identities have been released to the public.
The suspect pleaded guilty to a total of four felony counts, two per student, of oral copulation of a person under 18 and sexual penetration of a person under 18.
Koetters was sentenced to one year in jail and a five-year probationary period after he has completed his jail sentence. Koetters must register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life and complete a 52-week sex offender therapy course.
He will no longer be allowed to be alone with any female under 18 unless they are his own children.
If the case had gone to trial and Koetters had been convicted of his crimes, he would have faced a total of 14 felony counts and more than 11 years in jail.
Koetters is required to surrender on November 13, 2015, when his jail sentence commences.
