Former Cupertino Middle School Teacher Accused Of Raping Student

SUNNYVALE, CA — A youth sports coach has been arrested on suspicion of the rape of a student at a Sunnyvale middle school where he taught in 2009, public safety officials said Tuesday.

Phillip Anthony James was arrested Monday in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a student at Cupertino Middle School, according to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.

James retired from teaching three years ago but was still a volunteer softball and basketball coach at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale at the time of his arrest, public safety officials said.

Sunnyvale Police Captain Craig Anderson said at a news briefing Tuesday that the incident happened in a closet in James' classroom, where there were likely other teachers and classmates around.

The victim came forward to police after speaking with a therapist about an unrelated topic, according Anderson. She provided "extremely descriptive detail as well as the chronology of events which really led to the validity of what she was telling us," Anderson said.

Anderson said that James admitted to the crime to detectives, who arrested him following a softball practice at Fremont High School on Monday.

He was booked into Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault of a child, forcible penetration with a foreign object, and forcible penetration with a foreign object upon a child.

The Department of Public Safety is asking anyone with information about the case, or who may have also been a victim of James, to call Detective Mary Cayori at (408) 730-7100.