Ex-Teacher at Elite L.A. Girls School Reaches Plea Deal in Underage Sex Abuse Case

A former English teacher at L.A.’s elite all-girls Marlborough School, who has been charged with sexually abusing two students over a decade ago, has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. 

Joseph Thomas Koetters‘ attorney, Leonard Levine, and the victims’ attorney, David Ring, announced the plea deal Wednesday, the L.A. Times reported. 

Koetters is expected to plead to four criminal counts next week. According to Ring, Koetters will be required to register as a sex offender and spend a year in county jail as part of the plea deal. Levine described the deal as “a fair resolution.”

Koetters allegedly abused two teenage girls while teaching at Marlborough, one girl in 2000 and the other in 2004. 

One of the victims has already filed a lawsuit against the private Hancock Park school. As a 16-year-old student at Marlborough in 2000, she became pregnant with Koetter’s child, but the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.

In November of last year, Marlborough’s chief administrator stepped down from her post following an investigation of the allegations against Koetters. The inquiry, initiated by the school’s board, determined that there was a “pattern of misconduct” by the teacher and “mistakes in judgment” by top officials at the school. After Koetters left Marlborough, he went on to teach briefly at Polytechnic School in Pasadena.

“It appears Mr. Koetters will accept responsibility in the criminal court for his sexual crimes against these girls,” Ring said on Wednesday. “I hope Marlborough will now own up and admit its fault in allowing this to occur under its watch.”

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