Tennis instructor didn't inform parents of offender status, say cops

SANTA BARBARA — A tennis instructor on parole for sexually assaulting a teen found himself in handcuffs again for not informing parents of his sex offender status.

Peter Jeschke, 37, on probation for a number of felony sex crime convictions committed in 2009, was arrested Jan. 12 for violating terms of that probation.

Santa Barbara Police spokesman Lt. Paul McCaffrey, who announced the recent arrest to the media on Thursday, reported that Detective Jaycee Hunter made the arrest following verification of witness reports that Jeschke was giving private tennis lessons to minors.

“This was in direct violation of the terms of his probation,” McCaffrey said, indicating that Jeschke is required to tell any parents of minors with whom he has contact that he is a registered sex offender.

Jeschke was serving as assistant tennis coach at Santa Barbara High School when a Santa Barbara Superior Court jury found him guilty of sexual penetration of a 16-year-old female student by a foreign object, oral copulation and unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, and possession of marijuana. He was sentenced in November 2009 to one year in county jail, with a potential prison term of more than seven years suspended pending successful completion of probation.

Jeschke, according to McCaffrey, “also faces charges of witness intimidation stemming from his trial,”,and has now been booked into Santa Barbara County jail on a no-bail hold.