California Teachers Accused Of Sex With Students Gave Them Cocaine, Alcohol, Prosecutors Say

Two female California teachers arrested back in January for having sex with students are now charged with giving them cocaine and alcohol.

Michelle Ghirelli, 30, and Melody Lippert, 38, took five male students from their respective high schools to San Clemente State Beach for a camping trip where they supplied them with drugs and booze, Orange County prosecutors said Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The illicit camping trip took place last year between Nov. 23 and Dec. 29, prosecutors said.

Ghirelli, who worked in the Covina-Valley Unified School District, is accused of having sex with a 17-year-old, and the alleged act was allegedly facilitated by Lippert, a former teacher at South Hills High School in West Covina.

While prosecutors say there is no doubt Ghirelli had sex with the minor, she apparently told investigators she thought he was 18.

"We intend to plead not guilty and intend to vigorously defend this case," Ghirelli's lawyer, Stephen DeSales, told The LA Times.

"What you will get from the district attorney is what they think they can prove," DeSales continued. "There's two sides to every story."

At the time of their arrest both teachers were originally charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor. But the Orange County District Attorney's Office has now added a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse and giving a controlled substance to a minor.

Both teachers, who resigned from their jobs last week, still face the original charge, while Ghirelli faces one count of oral copulation of a minor, the LA Times reported. They are scheduled for arraignment on Wednesday.

Tags

California, Cocaine, Statutory rape