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Ex-teacher admits to sex with student
By CARY DAVIS NEW PORT RICHEY -- A former Bayonet Point Middle School teacher pleaded guilty Monday to charges that he had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old student. James Christopher Howard, 42, entered the plea to two counts of lewd and lascivious activity with a child younger than 16 without any deals with prosecutors, in essence throwing himself on the mercy of Circuit Judge William Webb. The judge is set to sentence Howard on Jan. 4. Howard of New Port Richey faces a minimum of four years in prison under state sentencing guidelines. The maximum sentence is 30 years. Howard was arrested in January after he admitted having a relationship with the girl, whose name is being withheld by the St. Petersburg Times because of the nature of the crime. Howard resigned his teaching position days after his arrest. Authorities say Howard, on at least three occasions, drove the girl to Starkey Park, where he kissed and fondled her. They also exchanged letters. The girl was a student in Howard's class for two years, her mother said. Howard was a special education teacher; the girl was in his class because of disciplinary problems, said her mother, whose name the Times also is withholding to avoid identifying her daughter. The relationship remained a secret until a Pasco sheriff's detective saw a young girl getting into an older man's waiting car at the Regency Park Library. Suspicious, the detective, Greg Hinnant, approached the car, but Howard drove off with the girl. Hinnant pulled the car over, and Howard said he was counseling the girl with the school's permission. A call to the girl's mother confirmed that wasn't the case. Then the mother found letters that Howard had written to her daughter. Confronted with the evidence, Howard confessed to the relationship, according to sheriff's reports. The girl's mother said Monday that Howard has ruined her daughter's childhood. Other students at school found out about the relationship and ridiculed the girl, her mother said. They also blamed the girl for Howard's losing his job, the mother said. "She was just a little girl," the mother said. "And she could not leave the house without being called the foulest name in the book. "She's done more of a sentence than (Howard) ever will." Howard's plea came on the day his trial was scheduled to begin. Howard, who had been free on bail, was handcuffed in the courtroom and taken into custody pending his sentencing hearing. His lawyer, James Parker, declined to comment on why Howard, a teacher since 1990, pleaded guilty without an agreement on a sentence. The girl's mother said she will ask the judge to impose a lengthy sentence. "The way I feel," she said, "is they can lock him up and throw away the key."
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From today's Pasco Times |
