A Los Angeles special education teacher is accused of having sex with a 13-year-old student in his car and giving marijuana to minors, and police believe there may be other victims.
Colleen Jo Matarico, 43, of Valley Village, was arrested Thursday and charged with child sexual abuse and furnishing marijuana to a minor. According to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police said in a statement that the teacher “groomed and sexually assaulted a 13-year-old victim in her classroom and then persuaded the victim to perform a sex act in her car.”
“Detectives believe there are other unidentified victims of Matariko who have not yet come forward,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in its appeal for “additional sexual assault victims.”
The police department only listed Matariko as a “teacher” and did not say where she taught. However, she is listed as a teacher at John Burrows Middle School in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. According to the school website.
Her LinkedIn profile She says she is a special education teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The newspaper asked school officials for comment.
Matariko is charged with five counts of lewd acts against a minor, two counts of lewd acts with a 14- or 15-year-old minor, and one count of furnishing marijuana to a minor.
She is being held on $1.3 million bail.
