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Music Teacher Sentenced To 183 Months In Federal Prison For Production Of Child Pornography

A music teacher from Ventura County who gave flute lessons throughout Southern California, including in Santa Clarita, was sentenced Thursday to 183 months in federal prison for producing child pornography.

John Edward Zeretzke, 62, of Ventura, was sentenced to 183 months — or 15 years, three months — in federal prison by United States District Judge Fernando M. Olguin, according to the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO).

Zeretzke pleaded guilty in August 2020 to one count of production of child pornography.

See Related: Music Teacher Pleads Guilty To Production Of Child Pornography

He previously pled guilty in Orange County Superior Court to six state counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts with minors under the age of 14 years old, according to officials.

Zeretzke was sentenced in July 2020 to 18 years for the state case, a sentence that will run concurrently with his federal prison sentence, according to USAO officials.

The charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California included allegations that from December 2016 to February 2017 Zeretzke used the internet to coerce one victim to mail him sexually explicit images via the U.S. Postal Service across state lines.

Prosecutors also alleged that he traveled to the Philippines with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with other minor victims, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

“[Zeretzke] preyed on young, impoverished girls in Third World countries and used his Flutes Around the World program as a means to contact and sometimes take advantage of those girls,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Prosecutors also alleged that he traveled to the Philippines with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with other minor victims, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

His organization operated with many schools within both the Castaic Union School District and the Saugus Union School District, according to a 2017 letter to parents.

“The performer distributes a flute-like musical instrument made of PVC pipe or bamboo to students during a music lesson, and the allegation is that he contaminated some of these instruments with semen,” wrote then-SUSD Superintendent Joan Lucid in 2017.

Additionally, CUSD officials reported in 2017 that Zeretzke had been at Live Oaks, Castaic, and North Lake Hills Elementary for assemblies between 2015 and 2017.

Zeretzke is accused of recording video of himself tainting the flutes with semen which he distributed in 2017 to three girls at Castaic Elementary, according to a portion of a grand jury transcript obtained by the Southern California News Group.

This case is a part of Project Safe Childhood, the Justice Department’s ongoing initiative to combat the plague of child exploitation crimes.


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Music Teacher Sentenced To 183 Months In Federal Prison For Production Of Child Pornography

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About Jade Aubuchon

A Santa Clarita native, Jade has spent her whole life involved in community outreach. After graduating from Learning Post High in 2015, she went on to College of the Canyons to pursue a double major in English and Marketing. Jade spent several years as a ballroom dance performer for a local studio and has performed at public and private events throughout Santa Clarita. As KHTS Co-News Director Jade oversees the KHTS news team, which covers all the latest news impacting Santa Clarita. Along with covering and writing her own news stories, Jade can be heard broadcasting the daily local news every weekday morning and afternoon drive-time twice an hour on KHTS 98.1FM and AM-1220. Jade is also instrumental in reporting on-the-scene local emergencies, covering them on-air and via Facebook Live and YouTube. Another dimension to Jade’s on-air skills and writing are her regular political and celebrity interviews, including her bi-monthly interview with our Congressman Mike Garcia and many other local politicians and community leaders.