Ex-Teacher Who Had Sex With Girl Finishes Jail Term
A former schoolteacher who admitted to having sex with a 14-year-old girl he met on the Internet has been freed after a judge sentenced him to time served--238 days in jail.
Jeremy West Preall, 26, of Anaheim was placed on three years’ probation. Superior Court Judge Paul Bryant also ordered him to register as a sex offender.
Preall was fired by the Los Angeles Unified School District under a mandatory sex offender requirement, San Bernardino County Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Lemkau said.
Preall had been hired as an emergency credentialed teacher at Hawaiian Avenue Elementary School in Wilmington in April 1998, district spokesman Shel Erlich said.
He was arrested at the school on July 6, 1999, four days after the victim’s younger brother spotted him naked in the family’s home.
The victim told investigators that she met Preall on June 29 in an America Online chat room. She told him she was 17.
He could have received up to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to lewd acts with a child and sending harmful matter through the Internet.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
