The sister of a 16-year-old boy that was sexually abused by a high school counselor called the educator “a predator” and “a monster” minutes before she was sentenced to two years probation for her crime.
Julie Tichon was in a Los Angeles courtroom to hear her fate after pleading no contest to two felony charges, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor more than 3 years younger and oral copulation with a person under 18 years.
The 16-year-old victim was a student at YULA High School, a modern Orthodox Jewish yeshiva, where Tichon was a counselor. Between February and March 2024, Tichon allegedly engaged in sexual acts with the boy multiple times. Police arrested her in August 2024.
The victim’s sister Sara read five letters, four penned by her sisters and one by her, eviscerating Tichon for her actions.
Sara explained that after their mother had died unexpectedly in 2023, “The family was shattered.” It was then that Tichon preyed on a “vulnerable kid at a fragile time when (the victim) was trying to navigate adolescence” she said.
Once the rumors of an inappropriate relationship started swirling through the school the siblings said life was ruined.
“I was isolated and alone. My brother was the victim but they judged me. I hid in the bathroom at school”, the victim’s sister Phani wrote.
The crime rattled the “small religious community” where they lived, she said.
Sara went on to say Tichon “had stabbed us and twisted the knife” before calling the counselor “a monster” “predator” and “dangerous.”
“I hate Julie Tichon. We entrusted you with his safety, she used her time to groom him” she said.
Tichon, in black pants and a black shirt with a grey sweater, listened and stared straight ahead while sitting next to her attorney, Tariq Khero, as Sara read the letters.
After the proceedings, Tichon who attended the hearing with her mother, spoke exclusively with The California Post as Khero looked on. “I’m sorry, I wished it never happened,” she said.
Khero explained that he was the one who told Tischon to plead no contest instead of guilty, something the family had taken issue with in the letters.
“It was absolutely wrong, she made horrible mistakes,” Khero said. He added that Tichon had lost a brother to suicide around the same time the victim’s mother had died, but said its no excuse for Tichon’s action.
“I wanted to be there for (the victim), to get the support I didn’t,” Tichon said.
Khero says Tichon is doing “a lot of work on herself, more therapy, healing and making herself better so no one gets put in this position again.”
The terms of Tichon’s probation include registering as a sex offender, staying in therapy, keeping 100 yards away from the victim, and restitution to be decided at a later hearing. When the counselor was asked if she understood the terms, she said “yes, your honor.”
The victims family looked on, some on the verge of tears, as the terms were read.
