2 High School Math Teachers Accused of Sex With Students

Felony charges were filed Friday against two mathematics teachers at a Pasadena high school, alleging they had sex with two students who were minors at the time, authorities said.

Cyrus Javaheri and Tina Louise Dezerne, both of Pasadena, are charged in a 19-count criminal complaint that accuses the two of sexual contact with the girls over a two-year-period, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The girls, now 18 and 19, were students at the time at John Muir High School, where Dezerne teaches and Javaheri is the math department chairman, authorities said.

Dezerne is accused of having sex with one of the students, and Javaheri is charged in connection with both students, the district attorney’s office said.

Neither teacher could be reached for comment. Pasadena School District spokesman Erik Nasarenko said the teachers had been placed on administrative leave without pay, as of Friday, when officials learned of their arrests.

“The school district takes these allegations very seriously and intends to fully cooperate with the D.A.’s office and Pasadena Police in the ongoing criminal investigation,” Nasarenko said.

Javaheri, 40, is charged with 13 felony counts and one misdemeanor, including oral copulation and sodomy of a minor, unlawful sex with a minor and sexual penetration by a foreign object.

Dezerne, 29, is charged with six felony counts, including oral copulation of a minor and sexual penetration by a foreign object.

Javaheri, arrested late Thursday, was released on $50,000 bail, according to the Sheriff’s Department. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 27 in Pasadena Superior Court, according to the district attorney’s office.

Dezerne was arrested Friday and is to be arraigned on Monday in Pasadena Superior Court.

The district brought in a former Muir math teacher to help lessen the effect of two vacancies in the math department, Nasarenko said. Counseling is being made available for faculty or students who need it, he said.

Javaheri and Dezerne are not the first Muir employees accused of sexual misconduct with students. A former track coach was convicted in May 1999 of sexually molesting a student after luring him to his bedroom and showing the boy an adult video.

Clyde Turner was sentenced to three years in prison in that case, and the Pasadena Board of Education agreed in August to pay $355,000 over the next the 12 years to Turner’s victim.