Los Angeles

Brentwood School Teacher Pleads Not Guilty to Sex Crime Charges

According to prosecutors, the 17-year-old boy was once one of the teacher's students at Brentwood School, an elite K-12 coed campus.

A 45-year-old biology teacher at the exclusive Brentwood School pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that she had sex with a 17-year-old male student.

Aimee Palmitessa -- who was arrested last month and released on $230,000 bond -- faces up to 10 years and four months in prison if convicted of seven counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, two counts each of sodomy and sexual penetration by foreign object of a person under 18, and a single count of oral copulation of a person under 18.

Palmitessa, who was was placed on administrative leave following her arrest, is also facing a drug charge in Riverside County for allegedly possessing ecstasy at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in April.

According to prosecutors, the 17-year-old boy was once one of Palmitessa's students at Brentwood School, an elite K-12 coed campus. She is accused of having sex with the teen on multiple occasions between June 12 and Aug. 11. She was arrested after the teen went to authorities, prosecutors said.

Palmitessa is due back in a Los Angeles courtroom Oct. 16, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require her to stand trial.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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