A former teacher at an exclusive Southern California high school was charged with sex crimes involving a student who allegedly miscarried his baby.
Joseph Koetters, 47, was an English teacher at the all-girls Marlborough School in Hancock Park when he allegedly started a sexual relationship with the 16-year-old girl in 2000, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The alleged victim's attorney, David Ring, said Tuesday his client finds comfort in knowing that Koetters will face a judge for his alleged crimes.
"She's really relieved that Koetters has been taken out of the classroom and he's not going to ever do it to another girl," Ring said.
The criminal complaint alleges that the crimes occurred between June 2000 and June 2002.
"He drew her in and made her feel like she was in love with him, and then he started having sex with her a lot," Ring said. "He got her pregnant and ultimately pressured her into at least thinking about having an abortion, but before that ever happened she miscarried the baby."
Ring said his client never reported the acts to the school and thought she was the only one until an another student, Mikaela Gilbert-Lurie, wrote an essay for xoJane magazine detailing her alleged relationship with Koetters that never became sexual.
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"For over 10 years she truly believed that he had only done this to her and then when she found about Mikaela and then she found out about a whole bunch of other girls who said he did very similar things to them, she said that's it, I'm coming forward. This guy is a predator," Ring said.
One of the incidents allegedly occurred too long ago to file charges, and another allegedly occurred in Nevada, police said.
Koetters taught at the Marlborough School for 14 years, according to an interview he gave to the newspaper of the Polytechnic School in Pasadena, where he subsequently went on to teach briefly.
"Polytechnic learned something had happened there with a student there as well but the details are murky," Ring said.
NBC4 reached out to Polytechnic for comment but did not hear back before the publishing of this report.
In a statement to NBC4, Marlborough School said in part it "expresses its deep sympathy for the victims of the sexual misconduct that has come to light."
Ring plans to file a civil suit against the school.
Koetters, who was freed on $140,000 bail, was expected to be arraigned Thursday.
He was charged with two felony counts each of oral copulation of a person under 18 and sexual penetration by a foreign object.
City News Service contributed to this report.
