The Educated Class

TEACHERS SENTENCED THIS MONTH include:



Union, SC - Feb 4 - Samuel Roger Worley Jr., 46, was sentenced to 5 years in prison and 5 years probation for child pornography. He was a music teacher at Monarch Elementary School. Picture

Cleveland, OH, - Feb 6 - Kristen L. Ross, 40, was sentenced to 2 years for an improper relationship with a 14-year-old elementary-school student. The Assistant Prosecutor said, "“We made the deal in order to get her out of the classroom as a teacher."

Jersey City, NJ - Feb 7 - Special Education teacher Peter Riquelme, 41, was spared prison time when he was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to get counseling Friday after having been charged with masturbating in front of a 15-year-old boy in a school faculty room. As part of the plea deal, he will give up his job and his teaching certificate. He will also have to register as a sex offender.

San Antonio, TX - Feb 9 - Elementary school principal Michael Alcoser, 44, described by the San Antonio Express as "an admitted pedophile" was sentenced to 18 years in prison for aggravated sexual assault of a male student.

Winston-Salem, SC - Feb 10 - teacher Steven Kennard Waddell, 42, to two consecutive terms of six to eight months in prison. He was also placed on supervised probation and ordered to register as a sex offender for 30 years. (He was accused in 2006 of fondling another student, but the school attorney at the time did not report the allegation to police.) Winston-Salem Journal was outraged.

Weirton, WV - Feb 10 - Brad G. Nieman, 31, a seventh-grade science teacher and coach at a middle school, was sentenced to 10 to 50 years in the state penitentiary after pleading Wednesday to 10 counts of third-degree sexual assault of a 15-year-old female student. He will be required to as a sex offender for life.

Aurora, IL - Feb 11 - Robert Steck, 41 a teacher at Cowherd Middle School, was sentenced to 3 years in prison for sexually abusing a 7th grade male student.

Kingman, AZ - Feb 16 - Grant Decker, 47, a high school teacher sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempted child molestation and attempted continuous sexual assault of his adopted daughter. Both daughters were Russian immigrants. Decker began touching her improperly after only three months. She was ll years old.

Lancaster, OH, - Feb 16 - Scott A. Zollinger, 47, was sentenced to 90 days in jail (not prison) for an "affair" with a female student. He surrendered his Ohio teaching certificate as part of a plea agreement. "Zollinger resigned from the school district in December 2008 after he inadvertently sent an intimate text message meant for the girl to the entire girls team."

Pasadena, TX - Feb 17 - Substitute teacher Reynaldo Martinez, 31, was sentenced to 7 years for having a sexual relationship with a middle school child. The victim "cried on her dad's shoulder when the ruling was handed down."

Delsea, NJ - Feb 18 - Assistant coach and teacher aide Joseph M. Stephenson, 30, was sentenced to six years in state prison for having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old team member. He has to serve three years before he can seek parole, 15 years parole, and will forfeit pension benefits from his eight years at the high school.

Compton, CA - Feb 18 - Compton High School principal Jonas Vital Silverio, 41, was sentenced to eight years in prison and registration as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He pleaded no contest last June to 10 counts of lewd acts on a child 14 or 15 years old for sexual activity with three female students in two different school districts where he taught. Picture at Bad, Bad Teacher blog.

Pasadena, CA - Feb 22 - Muir High School English teacher Brandon Michael Landreth, 33, pleaded no contest Jan. 11 to first-degree murder. He was sentenced Feb 22 to 35 to life.