Talbert teacher gets 4 years for statutory rape

A former Talbert Middle School teacher was sentenced to four years in state prison Thursday for molesting a 14-year-old student in 2005.

Daniel Axtell, 38, of Santa Ana, pleaded guilty Dec. 17, 2008 to six counts of lewd acts and one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object with the girl and one count of first-degree burglary, authorities said.

After befriending the student, who shared her family and personal problems with him, Axtell “groomed” her and gained her parents’ trust by mentoring her and attending family events, prosecutors said.

From April 1 to June 1, 2005, Axtell took the girl to hotels for sex, and also assaulted her in his car. The defendant also wrote “Daniel + (Victim Name)” inside a drawn heart in a closet door in one hotel room, prosecutors said.

The girl told authorities about the assault in 2007. During sentencing, the girl said that Axtell violated her trust, embarrassed her and made her change schools because her fellow students all heard about the relationship.

Her mother and stepfather also told the court that Axtell changed the girl’s life, saying her “high school experience was ruined because she was humiliated, lost friends, never attended dances or the prom, and would never look at relationships the same way again,” prosecutors said.

Reporter CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at candice.baker@latimes.com.