Hesperia Dance Instructor Arrested For Having Relationship With 13-year-old Student

HESPERIA (CBSLA.com) —  A San Bernardino County dance instructor has been arrested for having an inappropriate relationship with a teenage student, officials said Monday.

Thomas Cook, 22, was taken into custody on Saturday morning on charges of lewd and lascivious acts with a child and oral copulation with a child, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

On Friday, deputies learned Cook, of Victorville, was having a relationship with a 13-year-old victim.

He was arrested the following day and was being held on $350,000 bail at the High Desert Detention Center.

Cook is a dance instructor at Dance Dynamic in Hesperia and teaches at studio in Upland, officials said.

He also is "a proctor at Topaz and a volunteer at Hesperia High School, but is no longer an employee of the district, and he is not allowed on any district site," the Hesperia Unified School District said in a statement.

Dance classes were being held Monday night at the Hesperia studio.

Parents, however, said they were not interested in commenting.

"I was advised that we have nothing to do with what he did. He no longer works with us," one man said outside the studio.

Investigators feel there may be additional victims and urge anyone with any information to contact local law enforcement or Hesperia Sheriff's Station at (760) 947-1500.