VISTA, Calif. (CNS) - A former Escondido High School math teacher who pleaded guilty to sex crimes involving two underage students was sentenced Tuesday to six years in state prison.
Kyiri Tisdale, 32, was arrested last year and charged with over two dozen felony counts related to sex acts with two minor victims, identified in court as Jane Doe and John Doe.
Prosecutors say the victims were 17 and 16 years old at the time of the offenses. The criminal complaint filed against Tisdale alleged he committed sex acts upon the victims on numerous occasions across a time period of nearly a year.
Tisdale was arrested at the campus last August as he was preparing for the upcoming school year.
He ultimately pleaded guilty to seven felony sex-crime counts and along with prison, Tisdale will be required to register as a sex offender.
Deputy District Attorney Peter Estes read a statement in court from one of the victims, who wrote that they felt "deep disgust and shame" over what happened and at times felt they "couldn't bear the emotional toll that this situation had left on me."
Tisdale did not make a statement in court, but his defense attorney said her client had submitted an apology letter to the sentencing judge, in which he expressed his remorse.
Superior Court Judge Daniel Segura told Tisdale he'd read the letter and said, "I do hope that the things you've written in here are genuine and you do find some way to atone... I hope you do recognize not only what you did to the individual victims here, but I think you see all those people whose trust you violated."
After the sentencing hearing, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan issued a statement that read, "This defendant used his position of trust as a teacher to commit sex crimes against teenage students whom he's supposed to nurture and protect. He not only physically violated his students but also violated the trust that the overwhelming number of teachers in our county work so hard to build with their students. There is no room in our schools for corrupt teachers who abuse their positions of trust to gain the confidence of students, only to take advantage of them sexually."
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