Former high school teacher sentenced after student reported sexual assault
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IDAHO FALLS — A judge sent a former high school teacher on a rider program Monday after a former student reported she had been sexually abused and harassed by him.
Patrick Todd Smith, 52, was sentenced after previously pleading guilty to felony injury to a child. As part of a plea agreement, a felony charge of sexual battery of a minor was amended to the injury to a child charge.
When handing down the sentence, District Judge Dane H. Watkins Jr. did not listen to the recommendation of probation, opting instead to place the man into the rider program. Watkins also gave Smith an underlying three to nine year prison sentence.
A rider program is when a judge sends a person to prison for up to a year to undergo different treatment programs. When the inmate has completed the program, the judge can then decide to send them back to prison or release them on probation.
Smith worked as a teacher at the Technical Careers High School in Bonneville Joint School District 93. Last year, a 17-year-old student reported he engaged in flirty and sexual comments with her. It escalated to unwanted kissing and groping. The victim told investigators one day Smith grabbed her, pulled her into his lap and said it wasn’t fair she aroused him and “he had to deal with it all day.”
“Each time Smith came back into the shop, he would take it a step further. … Smith kept saying that his life would be easier if she wasn’t so attractive or if she was 18,” a probable cause affidavit reads.
After one incident of groping, the victim left school and Smith reportedly texted to ask if she was OK. In text messages viewed by police, the victim responded she was not OK with the touching and that it needed to stop. Smith replied that it was fine and he would stop.
Smith was also ordered to pay $1,245.50 in fees and fines. He will not have to register as a sex offender because he was not convicted of a sex offense.