Teacher Accused of Student Sex Abuse

A Santa Ana high school teacher was arrested Wednesday morning on suspicion of lewd conduct with a student during a five-year period, police said.

Lee Henry, 56, of Tustin, was pulled out of his English class at Middle College High School about 10 a.m. and arrested in the office, said Lt. Jim Peery, a spokesman for the Tustin Police Department.

The alleged abuse began when the student was 13 years old and attended Carr Intermediate School, where Henry was his teacher, Peery said.

The Santa Ana teenager and the teacher had oral sex in Henry’s apartment at least 10 times over five years, Peery said. The most recent incident took place this year, he said.

The student, who was not identified, is now 18 and attends Santa Ana Valley High School, Peery said. He approached police about two months ago to report the alleged acts, Peery said.

Police are investigating whether there are other alleged victims.

Henry, a 29-year veteran of the Santa Ana Unified School District, taught at Carr Intermediate from 1982 to 2000, at Mendez Fundamental Intermediate from 2000 to 2005, and had just started at Middle College in September, said Susan Brandt, a spokeswoman for the district.

Middle College is a collaboration between the Santa Ana Unified School District and Santa Ana College. The students, who have to apply to the school, can take high school and college classes.

Henry has been placed on paid administrative leave until he is charged or exonerated, Brandt said.

Henry was booked on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts and oral copulation with a child under 14, Peery said. He is being held at Orange County Jail on $100,000 bail.

Henry is the latest Orange County teacher to be arrested on suspicion of sex with underage students this year.

In May, Carlos Jose Melendez, a teacher at Ball Junior High School in Anaheim, was arrested on suspicion of having sex with a 14-year-old female student. Sarah Bench-Salorio, a teacher at Santiago Middle School in Orange, was arrested in January for allegedly having sex with two 13-year-old male students.