Idaho principal charged with 3 misdemeanors, including patronizing a prostitute
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Michael Katz, Idaho Statesman
FRUITLAND (Idaho Statesman) — Fruitland High School principal Mike Fitch, who has been on leave since November, has been charged with three sex-related misdemeanors by the Payette County prosecutor’s office, according to online court records and a press release from Fruitland School District Superintendent Teresa Fabricius.
Fitch, who served as the school’s boys basketball coach for 19 years, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of sexual battery and one charge of patronizing a prostitute, the court records indicate.
Fitch was placed on leave amid a criminal investigation by the Idaho State Police, which has repeatedly declined to discuss the case, per previous Statesman reporting. ISP spokesman Tim Marsano confirmed previously only that the investigation was ongoing.
“The district is cooperating fully with officials and we take this situation very seriously. Mr. Fitch has been out of the building since November 16 and he will remain out of the building while this matter is resolved,” Fabricius said in a statement issued Friday night. “I want to assure you that education at Fruitland High School is progressing as usual, and our teachers and staff are working hard to ensure that students are learning in a stable, supportive, and positive environment.”
By definition, Idaho law states that sexual battery “is any willful physical contact, over or under the clothing, with the intimate parts of any person, when the physical contact is done without consent and with the intent to degrade, humiliate or demean the person touched or with the intent of arousing, appealing to or gratifying the lust, passion or sexual desires of the actor or any other person. For purposes of this section, ‘intimate parts’ means the genital area, groin, inner thighs, buttocks or breasts.”
Misdemeanor sexual battery is punishable by up to a year in county jail.
Patronizing a prostitute, by state statute, is when someone, “pays or offers or agrees to pay another person a fee for the purpose of engaging in an act of sexual conduct or sexual contact” or “enters or remains in a house of prostitution for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct or sexual contact.”
This article was originally published in the Idaho Statesman. It is used here with permission.