Against All Enemies Foreign and Domestic
Example Eight
This guy was given 3 years probation for having sex with a real child. I was given 5 years probation for pleading guilty to an attempted lewd act with a fictitious child.
Saturday, December 01, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
By CARRI GEER THEVENOT
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A former Western High School teacher apologized for his irresponsibility Friday before being sentenced to probation for having sex with a 16-year-old student.
The girl's mother began crying when she arrived to speak at the proceedings and learned they had already concluded. She said she had been sent to the wrong courtroom.
"I think he needs to pay for what he's done," the woman said of her daughter's former teacher. "He was the adult in the situation."
She said James Gabriele should have to spend some time in prison.
"In a way, I pity him, because he lost his life, but he got off easy," the mother said.
Gabriele, 39, pleaded guilty in September to two counts of sexual conduct between a teacher and student. The crime is a felony.
The man's former student, who is now 17, signed an affidavit that defense attorney Richard Schonfeld submitted to District Judge Michael Cherry for the sentencing. In the document, she described her relationship with the teacher as "truly meaningful and loving."
"I do not want to see James Gabriele go to jail as a result of the relationship that we had," the girl wrote.
Gabriele was arrested in February in Escondido, Calif., after a police officer saw him having sex with the girl in a parked vehicle.
He is one of nine Clark County School District employees arrested this year on suspicion of sexual misconduct.
"I want to know when we as a society are going to stand up and say, `No more,' " the mother of Gabriele's victim said. "This is a breach of trust."
The defendant, a social studies teacher who was suspended by the Clark County School District after his arrest, could have received up to 10 years in prison. Instead, Gabriele will spend up to three years on probation.
Officials with the state Division of Parole and Probation recommended that sentence, but they also recommended that Gabriele be barred from seeing the victim while on probation. Prosecutors made no recommendation Friday regarding Gabriele's punishment.
Cherry ordered the defendant to stay away from the victim only until she turns 18 in April.
"They haven't talked in a long time," said David Chesnoff, one of the defendant's attorneys. "I know that our client is pleased that a judge will allow her to see him when she's 18, if she wants to."
Chesnoff said his client is divorced and has a 7-year-old child. Family Court records show that Gabriele's wife filed for divorce five days after his arrest.
The victim's mother said Gabriele should leave the teen-ager alone and let her get on with her life.
"She needs to be around people her own age," the woman said. "He's two years older than I am."
The mother said her daughter has dropped out of school and gone to live with an older sister. The teen-ager refuses to talk to her mother or see a counselor.
"It scarred her, and I think it scarred her permanently, and I'm very worried about that," the mother said.
In her statement to Cherry, the teen-ager said her mother has limited involvement in her life and fails to understand the circumstances of her relationship with Gabriele.
"I understand that the laws are made to protect people that are not 18 years old, even if those people do not feel that they need protection," the girl wrote. "However, in this case I am almost 18, and I hope that this court will consider my statement and thoughts and grant James Gabriele probation."
According to a police report, the girl willingly traveled with Gabriele to California. The pair had altered a school permission slip, which the girl gave to her mother, according to the report.
The mother said she thought her daughter was going on a field trip to San Diego. She recalled writing a note on the permission slip indicating that she did not want her daughter to ride with a student driver.
"Obviously, I didn't know I had to worry about the teachers," she said.