The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged Julie Tichon, 37, with three felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor more than three years younger and one felony count of oral copulation of a person under 18.
Tichon was arraigned Thursday and pleaded not guilty to all charges, authorities said. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 1.
Prosecutors allege the unlawful sexual acts took place from February to March. They said she no longer works at the school, which they did not identify.
As of February, Tichon was listed online as a guidance staff member at the boy’s division of YULA High School. Located in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Pico-Robertson, YULA is the oldest and largest modern Orthodox Jewish high school in Los Angeles, with some 400 students between its two campuses. Her name no longer appears in the current online staff directory.
On May, 28, YULA Head of School Rabbi Arye Sufrin sent an email notifying parents that he had received reports of a female staff member having “an inappropriate relationship of a sexual nature” with two male students, according to Forward an independent Jewish newspaper . Sufrin said the school had shared this information with the Los Angeles Police Department and that the staff member was no longer on campus.
“It is impossible to comprehend and beyond devastating that students would be facing this situation,” Sufrin wrote.
Investigators believe there could be more victims. Anyone with information is asked to contact LAPD Det. Brent Hopkins at (213) 473-0447.
