LA MESA, Calif. -- A former assistant band director at Helix High School who had sex with a 17-year-old student was sentenced Friday to five years probation and ordered to perform 400 hours of volunteer work.

Frank Paul Palumbo, 27, pleaded guilty Feb. 22 to a pair of felony counts of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

Judge Robert F. O'Neill suspended a 270-day jail sentence as long as Palumbo successfully completes probation.

The defendant could have faced a maximum of three years and eight months in state prison.

He was arrested last Dec. 26, after the girl's father confronted her about the relationship and then called police.

Palumbo lived in Normal Heights but had quit his job at Helix and was preparing to move to Sugarland, Texas, to take a teaching job at the time of his arrest, said Deputy District Attorney Mark Skeels.

Defense attorney Michael McGlinn said Palumbo had been in San Diego since 1979 and became a distinguished member of the music community.

Palumbo and the girl had sex on Dec. 15 -- his last day of work at Helix-- and Dec. 18 and 20, twice at her house and once at his residence, according to Skeels.

A normal teacher-student relationship had "developed into something more than that," the prosecutor said.

Palumbo previously taught at Chula Vista Middle School and Castle Park High School, but authorities don't believe there were any other victims.