Lawson Sweat, a former teacher and coach at Piute High School in Junction, Utah has been arrested and charged with two counts of raping a sixteen year old girl that attended the school in 2005.

It is alleged that Sweat invited the alleged victim and another teen female to his home and gave them alcohol while they were watching movies. After one of the girls left, it is alleged that Sweat began to kiss the alleged victim and started to remove her clothes and over the girl’s objections had sexual intercourse with her.

It is further alleged that while Sweat was having intercourse with the girl that he was interrupted by a phone call which he answered and that after speaking on the phone, he had sexual intercourse with the girl a second time.

Sweat resigned his job with the school in October.

After being booked into the Piute County Jail, Sweat was released, with his next court appearance set for February 25th.

References:

Former Piute coach and teacher faces teen rape charges (2/15/08)

(1/21/08 - Initial BBT Report)

Leisa Ward, 37, a former substitute teacher in the Juab County School District in Utah and a mother of four has pleaded guilty to child sex-related charges.

Ward pleaded guilty on charges of unlawful sexual conduct and in return prosecutors dropped all other charges.

Ward was alleged to have engaged in sexual activities with at least five boys that were 16 or 17-yeears-old at the time.

Ward will be sentenced on February 28 on the 11 counts to which she pleaded guilty.

References:

Utah Mother Admits To Sex Acts With Teen Boys (1/20/08)

Mom of 4 admits to 11 felonies (1/19/08)

(1/16/08 - Initial BBT Report)

Rodrigo Humberto Garza, 36, a former assistant baseball coach at Copper Hills High School in West Jordan, Utah has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl.

In November Garza pleaded guilty to two counts of second degree sexual abuse of a child in a case in which prosecutors said that on at least one occasion Garza paid the girl $300 for sex.

District Court Judge Terry Christiansen told Garza, “You effectively made her a prostitute“.

The judge sentenced Garza to 15 years on each count to which he pleaded guilty however the judge ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

References:

Ex-coach gets prison for sex with girl, 13 (1/15/08)

Former coach sentenced to prison for sex with 13-year-old (1/15/08)

Sex with 13-year-old girl lands former high school coach in prison (1/14/08)

(9/15/07 - Initial BBT Report)

Robert Alan Stovall, 22, a former swimming coach at Taylorsville High School in Taylorsville, Utah has been ordered to prison for a 90-day pre-sentence evaluation.

Stovall was initially charged with rape and forcible sodomy, both first-degree felonies punishable by up to life in prison. In a plea deal with prosecutors Stovall in July pleaded guilty to forcible sodomy, and the rape count was dismissed as part of a plea deal.

Court documents indicated that Stovall forced the 15-year-old female student to perform oral sex in his office at the high school and then had intercourse with her.

Stovall, an hourly employee and not a teacher, was fired the day of the crime.

12/14/07 - Sentencing

Robert Alan Stoval has been sentenced to prison for a term up to life.

References:

For the Record (12/14/07)

H.S. swim coach who had sex with girl goes to prison for evaluation (9/17/07)

(7/07/07 - Initial BBT Report)

Frank Laine Hall, 36, of Riverton, Utah, and a former first-grade teacher at Rosamond Elementary School facing 16 counts of sex abuse of a child has been freed on $500,000 bond. This after failing previously to get his bond amount reduced.

Hall was arrested on March 15 on allegations that he inappropriately touched some of the students in his class.

An investigation was started after one student told their parents of seeing other students touched inappropriately by Hall and over the course of that investigation additional alleged victims have either come forward or been discovered bring the total number of alleged victims to eleven, ten girls and one boy.

All of the alleged victims are six or seven-years old and were students in Hall’s class at Rosamond Elementary. All of the charges allege crimes committed at the school between July 2005 and March 2007 with all but one alleged to have been committed since July 2006.

Hall was honored with a Huntsman Award for Excellence in Education in 2006, receiving a $10,000 check accompanying the award as one of the best teachers in Utah.

9/20/07 - Plea Deal

Frank Laine Hall today pleaded guilty to reduced charges of 10 counts of attempted aggravated sex abuse of a child and second-degree felony sex abuse of a child. In exchange for his guilty pleas, five other counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child were dismissed.

Sentencing is set for November 14th and Hall has been ordered to contact pre-trial services for supervision while awaiting sentencing, to have no contact with minors, not to travel outside of Utah and to have a psycho-sexual evaluation completed.

11/29/07 - Sentencing

Frank Laine Hall has been sentenced to 15-years-to-life in prison.

Hall received a sentence of three-years-to-life for each of 10 counts of first-degree felony attempted aggravated sex abuse of a child and one-to-15 years in prison for one count of second-degree felony sex abuse of a child. The prison terms for the first five counts run consecutively and the others will be concurrent.

In addition the judge recommended to the Board of Pardons that Hall receive a mental health evaluation and sex abuse treatment, have no contact with victims or their family members or any minors and register as a sex offender.

References:

Teacher convicted of molesting young students sentenced to prison (11/29/07)

Hall pleads guilty; former Huntsman Award winner strikes plea deal (9/20/07)

Teacher released on bail in Riverton abuse case (7/06/07)

Teacher Accused of Sex Abuse Posts Bail (7/06/07)

Background:

Teacher is charged with sex abuse of girls (3/16/07)

More victims come forward in Utah student abuse case (3/24/07)

Alleged victims total 11 in Riverton abuse case (4/13/07)

Prosecutors Building Their Case Against Teacher Accused of Sexual Abuse (4/13/07)

Frank Laine Hall’s Personal Web Site