Esperanza Basketball Coach Arrested on Charge of Having Sex With Students

The boys’ basketball coach at Esperanza High School was arrested on suspicion of having sex with two female students over the past year at his home, in school classrooms and at other locations, authorities said.

Christopher Michael Bruce Lee, 41, was arrested Tuesday evening at the Anaheim school on suspicion of oral copulation with a minor, sexual assault, and penetration with a foreign object, said Brea Police Lt. Tom Christian.

Lee was released from the Orange County Jail Wednesday night on his own recognizance, jail officials said.

The girls who reported the incidents are Yorba Linda residents aged 16 and 17, police said. They told a school counselor that the sexual incidents occurred during the past year after Lee “befriended” them, Christian said. The counselor then contacted police and the Orange County Child Abuse Registry.

Lee was hired as an English teacher and coach at the school three years ago, said Tim Van Eck, assistant superintendent for the Placentia Unified School District. Lee, who is married, was placed in a non-teaching assignment when school officials were notified Tuesday evening of the police charges, Van Eck said.

Lee was also removed “indefinitely” as head coach of the basketball team, said school athletic director Jim Patterson. Patterson and Mike Moore, a former basketball coach at Esperanza, will coach the team..