Teacher Charged With Student Sexual Liaison

A San Fernando High School teacher has been charged with three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old female student, authorities said Monday.

Richard Shrake, 52, of Valencia was arrested April 4 after the student, who authorities said had willfully engaged in sex with Shrake, told a family member about their relationship, said Detective Gary Lyon of the Los Angeles Police Department’s child abuse unit.

“She confided in an older brother, and he convinced her to tell police,” Lyon said.

The incidents are alleged to have taken place between March, 1988, and March of this year at Shrake’s former Reseda residence, his home in Valencia and in his car, Lyon said. The girl, now 17, attended San Fernando High but was not a student of Shrake’s.

“She was on an emotional downside when they first met, and he took advantage of that,” Lyon said. The youth decided to tell her brother about her involvement with Shrake after “she realized she was being used.”

Diana Munatones, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said since his arrest, Shrake has been placed on compulsory leave of absence without pay pending the outcome of the case.

Munatones said Shrake, who is not married, has been a special education teacher at San Fernando High since 1982 and has worked on and off for the school district for 22 years.

Shrake is free on $10,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in San Fernando Municipal Court on April 25. If convicted, he faces a maximum of six years in prison.