A California music instructor who photographed five elementary school students using flutes he ejaculated into was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years in prison.
The California Attorney General’s Office announced John Zeretzke’s sentencing in a statement issued Wednesday. Zeretzke, 61, was indicted last year, after an investigation by the United States Postal Inspection Service, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and state prosecutors uncovered the former music teacher had targeted young girls in two counties between January 1 and April 30, 2017.
The former music teacher founded Flutes Across the World, an organization that allowed thousands of children all over the country to decorate flutes. Children in the program got to keep one of the flutes and the other was sent to a child in another country.
According to The Orange County Register, Deputy Attorney General Amanda Casillas told the grand jury that Zeretzke filmed or photographed himself ejaculating into flutes while in a hotel room or at his home. The music teacher then photographed children using the flutes in classrooms, Casillas said.
The Register reported the victims attended schools in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and Castaic Union School District.
Zeretzke was sentenced to prison a week after pleading guilty to six state counts of lewd or lascivious acts with minors under 14 years of age.
The California Attorney General’s Office noted that Zeretzke still faces five federal counts for allegedly forcing a child to send him sexually-graphic images, obtaining child pornography via the internet, and traveling to the Philippines to have sex a minor.
In regard to the pending case, Zeretzke reportedly agreed to plead guilty to one federal count of production of child pornography. The Register reported that he’s scheduled to formally enter a guilty plea in U.S. District Court on October 20.
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[Featured image: John Zeretzke/KEYT video screengrab]
