Photo via Wikimedia Commons
A 32-year-old teacher at an East Los Angeles high school made her first court appearance Wednesday on sex-related charges involving a 15-year-old male student and was ordered not to have any contact with the teen.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gustavo Sztraicher also agreed to the prosecution’s request to increase bail from $250,000 to $610,000 for Gina Murry, who taught at the East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy at Esteban E. Torres High School.
Murry has been free on $250,000 bond since her Sept. 5 arrest. One of her attorneys told the judge that he expected the increased bail to be posted on her behalf, and she was instructed to remain in court until the higher bond was posted.
Murry is set to be arraigned Oct. 31 on six counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and four counts each of committing a lewd act on a child, oral copulation of a person under 16 and sexual penetration by a foreign object.
Prosecutors allege the crimes occurred during a two-month period that began in May.
If convicted as charged, she could be sentenced to a maximum of 17 years in prison.
Murry was “re-assigned from the school” and parents were notified of her arrest, according to the Los Angeles Unified School District, which released a statement saying the “allegations are disturbing and undermine our continuing efforts to provide a secure learning environment for all of our students.”
Further details on the defendant’s employment history or the nature of her re-assignment were not released.
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