Ex-Morro Bay High School teacher dodges jail, gets home detention for sex with minor
A former Morro Bay High School teacher and swim coach convicted of having sex with one student and sending sexually explicit messages to another won’t spend any time in jail after a judge granted his probation modification request Wednesday.
Instead, Tyler Dale Andree will spend the time he was set to begin serving at San Luis Obispo County Jail this month in home detention.
Andree, 25, had entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors in July, pleading no contest to felony charges of unlawful intercourse with a minor and contacting a minor for a sexual offense.
He was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and 120 days in the County Jail — a term that would already be cut roughly in half due to various automatic custody credits under California law.
According to court records, Andree filed a request with the court to modify his probation on Sept. 15.
The document states that following his conviction, Andree applied to serve his sentence in the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office’s home detention program, which is open to defendants sentenced to 20 days or more in County Jail who are also deemed nonviolent and low-risk.
The Sheriff’s Office initially denied Andree’s request, but he was accepted for the program after he successfully appealed the agency’s decision, the filing says.
At a hearing in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Jacquelyn Duffy granted Andree’s request for home detention. Judges typically defer to the Sheriff’s Office regarding eligibility for the program.
Andree was initially scheduled to surrender to the jail Sept. 22, but that date was stayed pending Wednesday’s probation modification hearing.
His surrender date will be pushed by up to 60 days after Wednesday’s ruling to coordinate the start of his home detention with the Sheriff’s Office.
Andree’s attorney, Adrienne Haddad, declined a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Asked for comment Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth said in an email that a defendant’s acceptance into the home detention program “is uniquely within the authority of the Sheriff’s Office.”
Plea agreement offered due to lack of evidence
On Jan. 11, San Luis Coastal Unified School District officials were informed of allegations of potential misconduct that indicated “a teacher/coach had an inappropriate relationship with an unnamed student during his employment,” the district wrote in a news release Feb. 22.
Shortly after, the district began an internal investigation and was later notified by the Morro Bay Police Department that it had received similar information and was starting an investigation as well, according to the district.
The Police Department had also been alerted in January by a woman from Washington state who called to report that an inappropriate sexual relationship between a Morro Bay High School student and a swim coach had occurred the previous academic year.
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office said the reporting party was not willing to identify the teacher or victim by name, however.
Andree was ultimately identified as a suspect and resigned from the school on Jan. 18, according to the district. He had been an employee with Morro Bay High School since Aug. 13, 2019.
Andree was arrested Feb. 8 following a three-week investigation by the Morro Bay Police Department and was released from jail after posting $30,000 bail.
He initially pleaded not guilty to a felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor three or more years younger, a felony count of contacting a minor for a sexual offense, and a misdemeanor charge of molesting or annoying a minor.
Those three charges were related to one victim, a student who was 17 years old at the time.
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office alleged in its criminal complaint that the conduct began around Dec. 31, 2019, and lasted until about Oct. 15, 2020.
Andree also pleaded not guilty to a felony count of contacting a minor for a sexual offense and a misdemeanor charge of molesting or annoying a minor. Those charges were related to a second victim, then 16 years old, for conduct alleged between Dec. 31, 2019, and April 23, 2020.
That teen told The Tribune that Andree tried to initiate a romantic relationship with her and exchanged sexually explicit messages.
At a court hearing June 9, Andree entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors, pleading no contest to the unlawful intercourse charge and to one count of contacting a minor for a sexual offense.
The remaining charges were dismissed.
Had he been convicted of all original charges, Andree faced a maximum sentence of four years and eight months in state prison.
District Attorney Dan Dow issued a news release defending his office’s offered plea deal, saying that due to “the significant length of time that had passed before the crime was reported and investigated, there was a lack of forensic cyber evidence that could have helped to more accurately pinpoint the time of the sexual activity between the teacher and his student.”
He said that the plea was appropriate for those reasons, and also allowed prosecutors to avoid having to call the two survivors to the stand to testify.
SLO County DA calls for change in law over Andree’s case
In his news release, Dow also noted that it is not a crime under California law for a teacher to have sex with a student who is over the age of 18.
In 2012, the California Legislature rejected a bill that would have made it a felony crime for “any teacher or employee of a public or private elementary or secondary school who engages in a sexual relationship or inappropriate communication with a pupil of any age.”
Following Andree’s conviction, Dow penned a letter to Central Coast state Sen. Laird and Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham urging them to sponsor a bill in the next session “that would make it a crime for a teacher, coach, or youth services worker to have a sexual relationship with a student under their care no matter the age.”
According to court records, Andree will be required to register as a sex offender for 20 years, and protective orders bar him from communicating with the two survivors.
According to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing’s online database, Andree’s credential was revoked for misconduct on Tuesday.
This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 4:06 PM.
