LOS ANGELES
A former music teacher who contracted with a number of school districts in Southern California pleaded guilty today to a federal child pornography charge, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
John Edward Zeretzke, 61, of Ventura, California plead guilty to one count of production of child pornography.
He previously plead 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.
This case is a part of Project Safe Childhood, the Justice Department’s ongoing initiative to combat the plague of child exploitation crimes.
According to his plea agreement in the federal case, from December 2016 to February 2017, Zeretzke used a computer and the internet to communicate with a female minor and coerced her into producing child pornography.
The victim did not live in California at the time.
U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin has scheduled a Dec. 3 sentencing hearing/
Zeretzke is expected to be sentenced to 18 years in state prison and federal prosecutors are recommending an 18-year federal prison sentence that will run concurrently with his state prison sentence.