‘High-end call girl’ Tichelman pleads guilty, attorney says

The ‘high-end call girl’ accused of injecting a Google executive with a lethal dose of heroin last year in Santa Cruz pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Tuesday morning, according to the Santa Cruz County Public Defender’s Office.

Alix Tichelman, 27, was arrested last July after a Santa Cruz police detective pretended to be a client trying to arrange a meeting with her. Google executive Forrest Hayes was found dead on his yacht in Santa Cruz November 2013.

Defense attorney Larry Biggam said Tichelman faces six years in jail, half of which will be served in the Santa Cruz County Jail.

Tichelman appeared in Santa Cruz County Superior Court Tuesday morning for what was scheduled to be a confirmation of her preliminary hearing. Instead, she took a plea deal, Biggam said.

Last year, Santa Cruz police said, Tichelman was caught on surveillance footage injecting Hayes with the drug. Police have characterized her as callously leaving Hayes to die, though prosecutors and defense attorneys have given different descriptions of her behavior.

Tichelman remains in the Santa Cruz County Jail in lieu of a $1.5 million.

Biggam said his client didn’t call for help when Hayes overdosed because she panicked.

Gerald Christensen, Tichelman’s second attorney, said the death was an accident and not malicious.

Tichelman initially pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, great bodily injury and heroin possession.

‘High-end call girl’ Tichelman pleads guilty, attorney says