Eastvale Former Teacher Will Be Sentenced After Pleading Guilty To Sexual Assault Of A Minor Boy

EASTVALE, CA — A former Eastvale high school teacher who admitted to engaging in sex acts with a boy in one of her classes is slated to be sentenced Thursday.

Amanda Leigh Quinonez, 34, pleaded guilty in March to two counts each of sexual penetration with a foreign object and providing sexually explicit material to a minor, as well as one count each of lewd acts on a child under 15 years old, oral copulation of a child and annoying a minor. The admissions were made under a pretrial agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

Superior Court Judge Joshlyn Pulliam is expected to certify the terms of the plea bargain and impose the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense -- which wasn't published in court minutes -- during a hearing Thursday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Quinonez is free on a $50,000 bond.

According to sheriff's investigators, the defendant, formerly a language arts teacher and water polo coach at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, began communicating with the victim, whose identity was not disclosed, in the fall of 2020, leading to multiple encounters.

Quinonez sent the youth nude photos, leading to intimate meetings, according to investigators. The locations of the meetings were not specified.

Sheriff's detectives were alerted to the acts by unnamed witnesses. Sufficient evidence was gathered to justify an arrest warrant, and Quinonez was taken into custody without incident in April 2022. She posted bail almost immediately.

At the time, Eleanor Roosevelt High Principal Greg Anderson publicly acknowledged there had been an "inappropriate relationship." In a letter sent to parents and guardians, he affirmed the Corona-Norco Unified School District had "zero tolerance for any behavior that endangers our students."

Quinonez was placed on unpaid administrative leave initially, then later dismissed.