Bad Bad Teacher

Norman W. “Buddy” Patterson, 46, a former teacher and girls basketball coach at Lingle-Fort Laramie High School, in Lingle, Wyoming has been sentenced to three to seven years in prison for having a years long sexual relationship with a female student.

In a plea deal, Patterson, originally charged with six counts of immodest, immoral or indecent liberties with a minor and six counts of second-degree sexual assault, pleaded guilty in May to two felony counts of immoral and indecent liberties with a minor.

The sexual abuse of the girl started when she was sophomore and a player on the basketball team and continued to and after her graduation from high school. The first sexual contact reportedly occurred at Patterson’s home. Other sexual incidents occurred at school and before and after basketball games in which the girl played.

After the initial sexual contact between the two took place in 2002 the victim told a counselor that something had happened, and the counselor warned the family. The parents confronted Patterson, and he told them nothing had happened and nothing would ever happen. Patterson reportedly asked of the victim, “Why would you make this up and lie about something like that?”

Patterson was head coach for the high school girls basketball team, assistant coach for the middle school volleyball team and assistant coach for the high school track team in addition to being a church counselor, community leader, close family friend of the victim and a Major in the Wyoming Army National Guard.

In addition to his prison sentence, Patterson received a suspended sentence of four to seven years on the second charge, will be placed on 10 years of probation when he is released from prison, and he will be registered as a sex offender.

Reference:

Former coach gets prison (8/24/07)

Background:

Sentencing of former Lingle teacher, coach next week (8/15/07)

Accusations force state’s coaches to take notice (7/29/06)

Coach faces sex assault charges (7/25/06)

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 24th, 2007 at 6:57 am and is filed under Coaches, Hall of Shame, High Schools, ME-FV, Teachers - Misc, Wyoming. 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.