Teacher Suspected Of Tainting Flutes In Capo Schools Arrested

LOS ANGELES, CA — Federal authorities arrested a prominent Southern California music teacher for allegedly preying upon children Thursday. The suspect, John Edward Zeretzke, is the same teacher who caused an uproar in the Capistrano Unified School District last year when the officials were forced to send letters home to parents warning them that Zeretzke may have contaminated flutes used by students with semen.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the 60-year-old Ventura resident, was arrested Thursday without incident for allegedly coercing and trying to coerce children into sending him pornographic pictures of themselves and for travelling to the Philippines with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with other minor victims. None of the victims in this case are located in Southern California, and the indictment makes no reference to the contaminated flutes.

Zeretzke had contracted with numerous school districts through a program called "Flutes Across The World," in which children made and decorated flutes out of PVC pipes. Warnings about potentially contaminated flutes were sent out to families in the Los Angeles Unified, Saugus Union, Capistrano Unified, Fountain Valley, Culver City, Newport-Mesa and Fullerton school districts.

"As part of this program, students may have received a flute made of PVC plastic piping and a single wine cork that they could decorate. Today, we further consulted with law enforcement and were advised that these flutes may have been inappropriately contaminated with the suspect’s bodily fluid," Capistrano Unified officials warned parents in a letter last year. "In an abundance of caution, we are asking all families who may have had children participate in this type of program either at school or within the community to remove these flutes from your child’s possession and place them in a sealed paper bag."

Thursday’s indictment makes no reference to the flutes, and investigators never announced whether the musical instruments were determined to be contaminated.

According to federal investigators Zeretzke coerced a young girl to produce child pornography, he attempted to entice another victim to send him sexually explicit images, he traveled to the Philippines with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with children, and he twice received child pornography over the internet.

If convicted, Zeretzke could face 15 years to life in federal prison.

Capistrano Unified School District photo