CA music teacher convicted of giving girls semen-tainted flutes. He’s going to prison

A former music teacher and founder of an international music program was sentenced this week to spend 18 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to distributing semen-tainted flutes to five California elementary schoolgirls in 2017, KNBC reported.

John Zeretzke, 61, of Ventura worked at the Music Center of Los Angeles for 30 years and founded Flutes Across the World in 2009, according to the Orange County Register. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to six counts of lewd acts against children in Orange County Superior Court, the Register reported.

Zeretzke was indicted after the U.S. Postal Service and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department conducted an investigation last year, according to a news release from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Authorities started the investigation after getting reports about tainted flutes in 2017, KNBC reported.

Prosecutors say before giving the flutes to the girls, Zeretzke recorded himself contaminating the instruments, according to KNBC. Zeretzke also allegedly tried to get another minor to send him “sexually explicit messages,” the attorney general’s office said.

“There is no place in our society for crimes against children,” Becerra said in the release. “We will not tolerate this kind of behavior in our schools or anywhere in our state. Our students deserve to be able to learn in a safe environment.”