A former high school “teacher of the year” has been arrested in California for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old boy and authorities said they “believe there may be additional victims.”
Tracy Vanderhulst, a 38-year-old math teacher at Yucaipa High School, was arrested for unlawful sexual intercourse involving a minor and held on $30,000 bail, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
In a tweet that has since been deleted, the school said that Vanderhulst “offers up a rigorous mathematics curriculum and deep caring for her students,” CBS Los Angeles reported.
Vanderhulst was honored as “teacher of the year” in 2017. According to a citation quoted by the News Mirror, Vanderhulst “epitomizes the educator so many desire to be — she is the kind and innovative teacher from whom we hope our children will grow; the educator who strives to engage all of her students from her intervention classes to her honors classes.”
According to a Facebook post, Vanderhulst joined the staff at Yucaipa High School in 2013.
As they continue to investigate the incident, detectives released Vanderhulst’s booking photo as they work to determine if there are additional victims.
Investigators and the Yucaipa Calimesa Joint Unified School District “worked cooperatively to ensure a thorough investigation into this matter was completed,” the sheriff’s office said.
Detectives believe there may be additional victims. Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact Detective Rachel Young of the Specialized Investigations Division, Crimes Against Children Detail at (909) 890-4904. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463) or you may leave information on the We-Tip Hotline at www.wetip.com.
Manly, Stewart & Finaldi has represented hundreds of child sexual abuse victims . We were the lead attorneys helping sexual abuse victims in recover $852 million from the University of Southern California. We are also the lead attorneys representing Olympic athletes and victims of former US Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team Doctor Larry Nassar and secured $890 million in settlements for our clients. We secured a $243.6 million settlement on behalf of sexual abuse victims at UCLA. In each of these cases we have helped victims and families get justice by conducting a thorough investigation of the organization and the school. We secured a settlement of $140 million on behalf of 81 child sexual abuse victims at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles. This was the largest child sexual abuse settlement by a public school district in history. In many cases we have discovered that administrators and executives know that the perpetrator was a danger to children and either did nothing or actively covered up the crimes.
