Danielle Matko, a 35-year-old teacher, was found guilty by a California jury on Tuesday of performing oral sex on 15-year-old student
A 35-year-old teacher was found guilty by a California jury on Tuesday of performing oral sex on 15-year-old student, it was reported.
Danielle Matko, a former employee at the East Palo Alto Aspire Phoenix Academy, was convicted on four counts following her arrest in December 2015.
She was found guilty of oral copulation on a minor and three counts of lewd acts on a minor age 14 or 15, The Mercury News reported.
Matko faces conviction on additional charges, as the jury will now consider whether she is guilty of sex crimes allegedly committed against another student.
She could receive up to six years in prison. Matko will also have to register as a sex offender.
‘Female teachers who commit offenses such as this are fairly few and far between,’ San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti said.
‘But we see it.’
Neither Matko, her attorney, or her former employer, Aspire, wished to comment.
Matko denied the allegations and did not testify during her trial.
Authorities said that the encounters between Matko and the student took place between September 1 and November 14 of 2015.
Prosecutors say that on one occasion, she and the student were talking when she flashed her bare breasts and allowed the student to touch them.
Matko, a former employee at the East Palo Alto Aspire Phoenix Academy (above), was convicted on four counts following her arrest in December 2015
Matko also touched the boy in an intimate area.
On another occasion, Matko performed oral sex on the boy. These encounters took place either during free periods or after school.
Prosecutors said that Matko did the same with another student, who was also 15 years old at the time.
Authorities said they recovered a photo taken on the cell phone from one of the victims showing Matko’s naked torso.
‘There was no doubt it was her,’ Guidotti said.
One of the boys told friends about the encounters, who in turn notified a lawyer. The lawyer then reported the incident to police.