Teacher Pleads Guilty in Sex Case, Gets 6 Months

A Granada Hills High School English teacher pleaded guilty Tuesday to having sex with an underage, runaway student and was sentenced to six months in jail.

Florine Maria Strimel, 35, had faced up to nine years in prison on seven felony charges stemming from what authorities have described as a monthlong affair with a 17-year-old special-education student.

In a deal with prosecutors, she pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of statutory rape and oral copulation with a minor, in exchange for the short jail term and a three-year probationary sentence. The remaining five charges were dismissed.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Tuppence MacIntyre, who prosecuted the case, said she thought the offer was a fair one “given the nature of the relationship between a student and a teacher.”

The victim, one of Strimel’s students, had run away from home to stay with Strimel in March, authorities said. About a week later, Strimel dropped him off at school, where he was questioned by authorities. Strimel was arrested later that week and has remained in custody in lieu of $265,000 bail.

After her arrest, students named other possible victims, but those teenagers have denied any improper relationship with the teacher, said Sgt. Rick Young, a Glendale police spokesman.

Investigators also found photos of Strimel with several 16- and 17-year-old boys during a search of her Salem Street home, Young said. Those boys, who they have identified through yearbooks, have also denied any involvement with Strimel.

“It’s an active case. We left it open because we have some unanswered questions,” Young said.

Strimel, who began teaching as a substitute and became a special-education English teacher at the high school this school year, was suspended after her arrest.

School officials have acknowledged that when she was a substitute teacher in 1996 and 1997, Strimel was the subject of similar accusations. Those complaints were not substantiated and no action was taken, authorities said.

Officials with the Los Angeles Unified School District said state education codes require that Strimel be dismissed. Strimel is also prohibited from ever teaching at a public school again, a spokeswoman said.

“I just hope it prevents her from interfering with other young men in their emotional development,” Young said.

In Superior Court in Pasadena, Judge Teri Schwartz on Tuesday also ordered Strimel to register as a sex offender, undergo a year of sex counseling, stay away from the victim and other minors unless accompanied by a responsible adult, serve 120 hours of community service and pay a $400 fine.