Piano teacher sentenced to life following conviction for molesting students

Santa Ana, California: The Orange County District Attorney's Office announced on Friday, May 6, 2022 that 65-year-old John Mordecai Scott VI had been sentenced to 100 years to life in prison following his conviction on charges that he sexually abused underage girls during music lessons.

"The trauma these young girls were forced to ensure by someone they should have been able to trust is unforgivable," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. "Pedophiles will not stop victimizing innocent children until they are removed from society. No child and no parent should have to suffer what these victims have suffered."

Scott was convicted on March 14 on thirteen counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, five counts of lewd act upon a child age 14 or 15, one count of use of an underage person for obscene matter, one count of possession of child pornography, one count of exhibition of lewd material to a minor, one count of distributing pornography to a minor with the intent to engage in sexual conduct, and one misdemeanor count of annoying or molesting a child under the age of 18.

The abuse is said to have began in 1996 and continued for years while Scott taught piano at Music Maker Piano Studio in Rancho Santa Margarita, Coast Brand Music in Mission Viejo, at at his home in Lake Forest.

The girls ranged in age between 7 and 15 years old at the time of the abuse. Five of them provided victim impact statements during the sentencing hearing on Friday.

In 2014 a search warrant was conducted on Scott's residence after a 10-year-old girl had come forward to report that he took inappropriate images of her during a music lesson at his home. She additionally disclosed that he had shown her pornography and filmed her.

The DA's office reported that the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force uncovered pornographic images of three students as well as images that had been photoshopped, changing them from innocuous images to "graphic pornographic images of the girls." A reportedly "large amount" of child pornography and erotica were found on his computer.

"The Orange County District Attorney's Office, along with our local and federal law enforcement partners, will never stop working to protect our children from these monsters," Spitzer said.

"Removing child predators from our communities will always remain a priority for Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles," acting Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang said according to the press release. "Through the HSI-led Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force, our agents and analysts work tirelessly with partners from the Orange County Sheriff's Department and the Orange County District Attorney's Office to protect our most innocent and ensure that justice is served on those who seek to exploit them."