Parents were warned Saturday that a music teacher with a nonprofit group may have handed out flutes to schoolchildren that were tainted with his own semen.
A state and federal investigation was under way into whether youngsters at schools around Southern California may have received tainted flutes.
The Los Angeles Unified School District said it was cooperating in an investigation of alleged "inappropriate sexual conduct involving a musical performer" that affected at least 13 school districts.
Several other Southern California districts notified parents by email on Friday and Saturday that a performer associated with the nonprofit group Flutes Across the World was being investigated.
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"The performer distributes a flute-like musical instrument made of PVC pipe or bamboo to students during a music lesson, and the allegation is that he contaminated some of these instruments with semen," Joan Lucid, superintendent of the Saugus Union School District, notified parents on Saturday, the Orange County Register reported.
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KNBC-TV reported that a parent identified only as Nate went to the police station in Fountain Valley on Friday night to turn in a flute given to his child, who attends Courreges Elementary School.
Flutes Across the World has provided musical presentations at several local school districts. The Fullerton School District said fourth- through sixth-graders at two schools had the program in the 2016-2017 school year.
The district said the music program was sponsored by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County.
The society sponsored Flutes Across the World to bring the program to six classrooms in three years, spokesman Chantel Uchida told the Register.
"We're so shocked and disgusted," Uchida said of the allegations. "We will be stepping back from this. There are no plans to continue it in the future."
