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High School Band Instructor Accused of Sexually Assaulting Teen Girl

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Suspect Morales (Photo Courtesy LASD)
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High School band instructor and tutor Albert Anthony Morales has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a teen girl in the summer of 2006.Morales, now 33, was arrested Tuesday at his home in Diamond Bar, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The suspect was booked on sodomy charges, according to City News Service.

The suspect has been working and volunteering for the past 13 years as a percussion instructor and tutor at schools in L.A. and Orange County. Since 2012, Morales has been at Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona. From 2004 to 2009, Morales taught band at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton; he is accused of sexually assaulting a then-16-year-old girl who was a student at Sunny Hills. Prior to his time at Sunny Hills, Morales was a band instructor at Diamond Bar High School from 1998 to 2004.

Detectives with the LASD's Special Victims Bureau is asking for the public's help in identifying any other possible victims.

Morales was being held at the sheriff's Walnut Station in lieu of $350,000 bail and is due in court in Pomona on Thursday.

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