Ex-Math Teachers Plead Guilty to Having Sex With 2 Students

A former mathematics teacher at a Pasadena high school will receive a prison term and another teacher will be sentenced to probation after both pleaded guilty to having sex with students.

Cyrus Javaheri, 41, the former head of the math department at John Muir High School, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of oral copulation and two counts of unlawful intercourse with two girl students, who were 17 at the time.

He will probably be sentenced to 16 months in prison, prosecutor Natalie Adomian said.

Tina Dezerne, 30, another former math teacher, pleaded guilty to one count of oral copulation with one of the students. She is expected to be sentenced to three years’ probation and 240 hours of community service. Under the terms of the agreement, both teachers will have to register as sex offenders in California.

Daniel Nardoni, Javaheri’s attorney, said his client maintains that one girl was 18 and the other said she was not a minor.

“But sometimes in life,” Nardoni said, “there are standards and general public attitudes that are even higher than the law. I don’t think that there’s a jury on the face of the Earth that would condone his behavior, even if the girls were 18.”

Javaheri and Dezerne have been on unpaid leave from the Pasadena Unified School District since the allegations surfaced in January 2001.