Teacher Who Had Sex With Student to Be Given Probation

Palos Verdes High School teacher Frederick L. Crook pleaded no contest to a charge of having sex with a minor and will be sentenced to five years of probation for his liaison with a 16-year-old student who came to him for religious counseling, authorities said.

Three other sex charges against Crook, 44, will be dropped as part of a plea agreement, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Sandra Buttitta.

Crook was arrested three months ago, after the girl reported the relationship to Palos Verdes Estates police.

The 20-year veteran history teacher at the high school became the girl’s “teacher in Christianity” last fall when she was having personal problems, police said.

The two had their first sexual encounter in February after school in Crook’s classroom and they later met at an El Segundo hotel and in the teacher’s car, police said.

Two counts of oral copulation and one count of having sex with a minor will be dismissed when Crook is sentenced July 8 in Torrance Superior Court, Buttitta said.

Crook, a father of three who is separated from his wife, has been on unpaid leave since the charges were filed and will be fired, according to school district officials.

The conviction will also lead to the automatic revocation of Crook’s state teaching credential.

The teacher entered the plea “to avoid the agony of a court hearing for himself and the young woman,” said Howard R. Price, Crook’s attorney. “It’s a tragedy in many respects.”