Assistant Band Instructor Charged with Sexual Assault

A former assistant band instructor who once coached students at Diamond Bar and Diamond Ranch high schools is facing six felony counts for the alleged sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl.

Albert Anthony Morales, 33, was arrested Tuesday at his Diamond Bar home.  Morales allegedly sexually assaulted the victim in the summer of 2006, when the then teen was a student at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, authorities said.

The defendant faces two counts of oral copulation of an unconscious person, two of sexual penatration by a foreign object, one of sodomy of an unconscious victim, and one of oral copulation of a person under the age of 18, said Sandi Robbins, a Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman.

Morales was formally charged in Pomona Superior Court.  He appeared for an arraignment, where he was expected to enter a plea, but that was postponed until March 1, Robbins said.

Morales tutored band students, specifically working as a percussion instructor, for the past 13 years, according the the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.  He has taught or volunteered in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, including stints at Diamond Ranch High from 2012-2013, Sunny Hills High from 2004 to 2009, and Diamond Bar High from 1998 to 2000, authorities said.

His bail has been set at $550,000.

Detectives are asking for the public's assistance in identifying any possible additional victims during Morales' tenure as a band instructor.

Anyone with additional information is asked to call the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Bureau at 877-710-5273.