Former teacher sentenced to 4 years in prison for stalking high school girls

A former teacher at a Tulare County high school has been sentenced to four years in prison for stalking his teenaged students.

Orlando Benitez, 31, had pleaded no contest to stalking three girls between 14 and 17 of age while he worked as a teacher at Lindsay High School. Investigators say he would send them sexually explicit text messages and would corner them at school when they tried to end contact with him. He would also threaten to harm himself and lay the blame on the victims, and become angry if he learned that the girls had relationships., according to investigators.

Benitez must serve 4 years and 4 months in prison and will also be required to register as a sex offender.