Bad Bad Teacher

Matthew Prichard, 44, a former art teacher at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado has been sentenced after pleading guilty to a felony count of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust.

4th Judicial District Judge Ronald Crowder sentenced Prichard on Friday to 10 years to life of intensive, sex offender’s supervised probation. The judge said that the only reason he didn’t send Prichard to jail for up to 90 days is because the victim wanted him gone and Prichard has indicated that he intends to move to Ohio to be nearer to family.

Deputy District Attorney Abby Wallace said that Prichard did not take responsibility for his actions because he told a presentence investigator the girl sent him notes and came on to him. Prichard’s attorney told Judge Crowder that his client has “lost everything” including his job here, his house here, his marriage and all the friends he had here.

Prichard told the judge “I’ve lost a great deal in this process. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to rebuild my life.”

The victim is a 16-year-old female student who told police that during a semester in 2006 that Prichard made sexually suggestive comments to her, pulled her shirt down to expose her breasts, fondled her and put her hand on his crotch and did so all on school grounds and during school hours.

It was alleged that during the investigation that Colorado Springs Police recorded a conversation the girl had with Prichard in which he apologized and sought assurance she would not tell others of the sexual assaults.

The following is an editorial/opinion of the webmaster of Bad Bad Teacher

This is yet another case in which it appears the guilty party is sincerely “sorry”.
Sorry, only that he was caught, not sorry for victimizing a student.

That Mr. Prichard has supposedly “lost everything” should be a clue to him as to how normal, law-abiding people view the actions of perverts that prey upon children.

Evidently this lesson is lost on Prichard who apparently to some degree blames the victim for his “loss”.

Additionally, Mr. Prichard’s lenient sentence which includes no jail time what-so-ever is not going to deter others that might be similarly tempted in the future. While the judge is wise to consider the wishes of the victim in sentencing criminals, judges should also consider the implications of their sentencing decisions for future victims.

Mr. Prichard deserves to be in jail, at least for a while, if for no other reason than to deter future “Mr. Prichards” from thinking they too “can get away with it”…

Reference:

Ex-Palmer teacher gets supervised probation (9/28/07)

Background:

Teacher Arrested for Sexual Assault

Teacher suspected in sexual assault (1/24/07)

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 29th, 2007 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Art Teachers, Colorado, Hall of Shame, High Schools, ME-FV.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.