Ocean View High School science teacher pleads no contest to sex crime against 17-year-old boy

A science teacher at Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach pleaded no contest to sexually abusing a 17-year-old boy who had been living with him, authorities said.

Andrew Bueno-Potts, 43, of Long Beach accepted a plea agreement Friday and pleaded no contest to one count of sodomy of a minor, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Bueno-Potts is expected to be sentenced Feb. 22 to two years in state prison and be required to register as a sex offender for life, per the terms of the plea agreement, the district attorney’s office said.

Bueno-Potts previously pleaded not guilty Oct. 26 to four felony counts, including sodomy by intoxication, sodomy of a person under 18 and sexual penetration by a foreign object of a person under 18, according to court records.

He was arrested at his home on Oct. 23 after a teenager told police in July that he had been assaulted multiple times between July 2017 and December 2017 while living with Bueno-Potts, according to Long Beach police.

The teenager, who was not a student at Ocean View, met the teacher at a school event, police said. Bueno-Potts befriended the boy and later took him in to live with him, police said.

Bueno-Potts was accused of assaulting the boy twice at his Long Beach home and once in San Francisco. He also was accused of an attempted assault at his home, police said in October.

Bueno-Potts provided the teen with alcohol and alkyl nitrate, a stimulant commonly known as a popper, police said.

At the time of his arrest, Bueno-Potts was a science teacher and department chairman at Ocean View High.

He was still listed as a faculty member on the school’s website Monday, but on Tuesday his name had been removed. The Huntington Beach Union High School District declined to comment Tuesday, calling it a personnel matter.

Bueno-Potts is originally from New Orleans and has taught at high schools and middle schools in Azusa, Redondo Beach, Cerritos, Ontario and the Corona-Norco school district, according to the Ocean View High website and other online profiles.

UPDATES:

This article was originally published at 1:25 p.m. Feb. 4 and was later updated with additional information.