LAUSD Drama Teacher Charged With Molesting 2 Male Students 15 Years Ago

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Los Angeles Unified high school drama teacher was charged Tuesday with sexually molesting two male students 15 years ago, prosecutors said.

Peter Christopher Gomez, 47, is charged with 26 felony counts, including multiple counts of sexual molestation, sodomy of a person under 16 and oral copulation of a person under 16, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

He was taken into custody Feb. 21 in the city of Bell, according to police. Prosecutors will ask that his bail be set at $1.5 million.

Prosecutors say Gomez was a drama coach at Benjamin Franklin High School in Highland Park when the alleged molestations occurred between June 30, 1999, and Sept. 3, 2003.

Authorities said Gomez has been with the LAUSD since 1996. Since 2005, he has worked at Bell Senior High School as a history and drama teacher.

The La Habra resident is charged with molesting two male victims who were between the ages of 14 to 18 at the time of the incidents. Both students attended Franklin High School at the time, according to prosecutors.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in state prison.