More victims possible due to counselor accused of sexual abuse: LAPD

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – Authorities are searching for more possible victims of a high school counselor accused of sexually abusing a boy at a Los Angeles high school, police said Tuesday.

According to prosecutors, 37-year-old Julie Tichon of LA pleaded not guilty last week to three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor more than three years younger than her and one count of oral sex with a person under 18.

Tikhon is accused of engaging in sexual acts with a 16-year-old boy on multiple occasions in February and March, prosecutors said, but Los Angeles police said Tuesday that investigators believe there may be other students who have not yet come forward who could potentially contribute to the case.

Tichon previously worked as a career counselor at YULA High School in Pico-Robertson, but has since left the modern Orthodox Jewish boys' school.

“The suspect used her position of responsibility to gain the trust of these victims and then began inappropriate sexual relationships with them,” Detective Russ Hess said in a statement. “Instead of counseling them, she abused them.”

If convicted, Tikhon faces up to five years in prison, according to prosecutors.

YULA High School announced in a letter to the school community in May that “a female staff member had an inappropriate relationship of a sexual nature” with a male student. It also learned of another allegation against the same staff member involving a second student. The school notified the LAPD of the allegations, the Jewish Journal reported.

Neither the letter nor the Jewish Journal report revealed the identity of the employee.

Tikhon was the school's director of academic support, a role in which she worked with “students who needed short- or long-term academic support,” according to an archived version of the school's website.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Hess after business hours at 213-473-0561 or 877-527-3247. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers online or by phone at 800-222-8477.