Former Utah teacher’s aide get jail time for ‘sexting’ with teen student
A Former Utah teacher’s aide at a Weber County public charter school was sentenced to jail Tuesday for ‘sexting’ with a 14-year-old student.
Zachary Arrington, 21, pleaded guilty in April to third-degree felony attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, third-degree felony obstructing justice and a reduced class A misdemeanor count of attempted dealing in material harmful to a minor. Three other charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
On Tuesday, 2nd District Judge Noel Hyde sentenced Arrington — who worked at Quest Academy in West Haven — to serve 180 days in the Weber County jail, along with 36 months probation. The judge granted the man work release from the jail after 20 days served, and said he could begin day-reporting to the jail once he had served 60 days of his sentence.
Arrington was immediately handcuffed and taken to the jail after the hearing.
Before the sentence was handed down, Arrington apologized for the inappropriate relationship.
“I truly am really, really sorry for my mistake,” Arrington told the judge. “I do take responsibility for it. I assure you it won’t happen again.”
Arrington admitted in plea documents that he sent the girl a picture of his genitals, received a nude picture of the girl, and that he deleted texts, pictures and contact information from his cell phone.
The defendant’s attorney, Roy Cole, told the judge that Arrington has no previous criminal history and did not try to hide the relationship when interviewed by police. Cole said Arrington deleted the victim’s information from his phone “out of a sense of panic” after he was confronted at the charter school, before law enforcement was informed of the relationship.
According to charging documents, the girl told police in November that Arrington began contacting her through text and the cellphone social media app SnapChat. They met several times in a park, she said, and he kissed her on the forehead.
Police say the relationship then progressed into something more sexual.
“Several conversations were found [on their phones] that were sexual in nature and consisted of talk about how Zachary and the victim wanted to perform different sexual acts with each other,” according to charges.
When Arrington was interviewed by police in early November, he allegedly admitted to talking about showering with the teen and performing oral sex on one another, and admitted to sending two pictures of his genitals to the girl on SnapChat.
Arrington also admitted to police that he met the girl in a West Haven park, where they “laid on top of each other and would put pressure on each other’s pelvic area,” according to charges.
Arrington also told police that he once went to the teen’s home with the intention of having sex, but he had a hard time finding the house and once he arrived, was told the girl’s father would be home soon, according to charges.
The former teacher’s aide was fired from the charter school in October, according to police.
Read More: http://www.sltrib.com/news/2606498-155/former-utah-teachers-aide-get-jail
