{"id":279745,"date":"2020-01-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/former-ljcds-teacher-to-stand-trial-for-sexual-relations-with-student\/"},"modified":"2020-01-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T08:00:00","slug":"former-ljcds-teacher-to-stand-trial-for-sexual-relations-with-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/former-ljcds-teacher-to-stand-trial-for-sexual-relations-with-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Former LJCDS teacher to stand trial for sexual relations with student"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A judge Thursday<\/span>, <\/span>Jan. 16<\/span>,<\/span> <\/span><\/span>ordered a former teacher at La Jolla Country Day School to stand trial on three felony counts of having unlawful sexual relations with a 17-year-old female student in 2016.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The student, who is now 21 and in college, testified about the sexual contacts. She recalled the first time she snuck out of her house at midnight<\/span> to meet<\/span> <\/span><\/span>her teacher, Jonathan <\/span>Sammartino<\/span>, then 33, <\/span>outside her Torrey Hills home in his car.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She said the two only “made out” in the back seat of his car, but sometime later they engaged in sexual intercourse and oral sex in his car and his home. <\/span>Sammartino<\/span> was married at the time, but he is now divorced.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sammartino<\/span>, who is now 36, is on leave from a private school in San Jose. He remains free on $25,000 bond. He has pleaded not guilty.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sammartino’s<\/span> mother, who is U.S. District Court Judge Janis <\/span>Sammartino<\/span>, was in the audience with her husband, a retired judge. Another federal judge who is a family friend also attended the hearing. Jonathan <\/span>Sammartino<\/span> has a doctorate in experimental psychology. <\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Rogers heard the testimony in a two-day preliminary hearing. He ordered a trial after saying there was sufficient evidence presented.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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His attorney, Eugene <\/span>Iredale<\/span>, sought to have the charges reduced to misdemeanors and cited a 2015 bicycle accident in La Jolla where he fell and suffered head injuries in three places. <\/span>Sammartino<\/span> struck a pothole on Torrey Pines Road, and the accident changed him, according to testimony.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iredale<\/span> argued the accident changed <\/span>Sammartino’s<\/span> ability to relate, plan, or control his conduct. He said the “the real issue” of the case is the trauma to <\/span>Sammartino’s<\/span> brain.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Victor <\/span>Boft<\/span><\/span>, a longtime friend of <\/span>Sammartino<\/span>, testified the accident changed him so much that he needed constant reminders of when to eat meals or do errands.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle successfully urged the judge not to reduce the charges to misdemeanors. He said “a reasonable expectation” of any teacher is that they not have sex with a student.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“This defendant abused his position of trust,” said Doyle.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The three incidents of unlawful sexual contact occurred from April to Sept<\/span>ember<\/span> <\/span><\/span>2016. <\/span>Iredale<\/span> claimed <\/span>Sammartino<\/span> was not aware the student was 17, saying he thought she was 18 years old.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“He said he didn’t trust himself around me,” said his former student. “He was also my teacher. He kissed me. We made out.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“It was a routine thing. He would come at midnight,” she said. “He was pressuring me to see him.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I had tried to cut it off a number of times. He tried to convince me not to break things off,” said the woman. “I definitely cared about him as a person.”<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Was he a good teacher?” asked <\/span>Iredale<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I enjoyed his classes. I definitely respected his credentials,” replied the woman, before she asked <\/span>Iredale<\/span>,<\/span> “Does a good teacher engage in acts with a student?”<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iredale<\/span> asked her if she felt he should not be a teacher. “He should not work with minors,” she replied.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iredale<\/span> referenced a blog that the student wrote about <\/span>Sammartino<\/span>, and noted she wrote she loved him. “At that age, I don’t think I knew what love is,” she said.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The woman recalled an instance in which she thought <\/span>Sammartino<\/span> had a seizure in his car. She remembered hearing about his bicycle accident.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sammartino’s<\/span> voice was heard in court in which a controlled phone call from the woman was played. San Diego Police Detective John Sullivan testified the call was recorded when she made the phone call on Aug. 22, 2018.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The woman told <\/span>Sammartino<\/span> she lost her virginity to him at age 17, and he <\/span>replied<\/span>, <\/span>“I will always be sorry. I don’t have a good answer. I just didn’t think it through,” said <\/span>Sammartino<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I’m sorry. I miss talking to you,” said <\/span>Sammartino<\/span>. “I’ll never give out my cell phone <\/span>[<\/span>number<\/span>]<\/span> <\/span><\/span>again <\/span>[<\/span>to a student<\/span>]<\/span>.”<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I know it was my fault. I know it was wrong,” said <\/span>Sammartino<\/span>. “I’m sorry. For the rest of my days, I wish I had not violated that trust. I hope you know I will never do this again.”<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The woman reported the conduct to campus police officers where she was in college in July<\/span> 2018. San Diego Police then <\/span>investigated<\/span>, <\/span>which resulted in his arrest on Sept. 11, 2018.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iredale<\/span> said an analysis of the victim’s phone records shows that she called him 69 times over many months. <\/span>Iredale<\/span> said in 12 calls, the woman spoke with <\/span>Sammartino<\/span> longer than one hour. He said the longest conversation between them lasted <\/span>5<\/span> <\/span><\/span>hours and <\/span>8<\/span> <\/span><\/span>minutes, which was from 10 p.m. until the early morning hours.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rogers ordered <\/span>Sammartino<\/span> to return to court on Jan. 21, when a trial date will be set.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There was a humorous moment during the hearing when <\/span>Iredale<\/span> mentioned the name of “Siri” as <\/span>Sammartino’s<\/span> scheduler. Someone in the audience had a <\/span>cell<\/span> ags;pags<\/span>hone <\/span>that woke up to the name of <\/span>Siri<\/span> and the voice asked, “How can I help you?”<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iredale<\/span> was surprised<\/span> but continued his argument. When he mentioned the name of <\/span>Siri<\/span> again, the voice spoke again from the man’s <\/span>cell<\/span> ags;pags<\/span>hone<\/span>, asking how <\/span>she c<\/span>ould<\/span> be of assistance.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A judge Thursday, Jan. 16, ordered a former teacher at La Jolla Country Day School to stand trial on three felony counts of having unlawful sexual relations with a 17-year-old female student in 2016.  The student, who is now 21 and in college, testified about the sexual contacts. She recalled the first time she snuck out of […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":256096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Former LJCDS teacher to stand trial for sexual relations with student","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}