Probation likely for teacher on sex-with-students charges

Bill Gang

Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998 | 10:20 a.m.

A plea bargain that likely will result in probation has been formalized for a Gorman High School teacher charged under a new law that makes it a crime for a teacher to have sexual relations with a student.

Jack David Patton, 28, appeared in a Henderson Justice Court Wednesday and waived his preliminary hearing as the first step in a deal that will result in his guilty plea to a single felony charge naming two victims.

Although the crime carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, Deputy District Attorney Doug Herndon said he will not oppose probation if Patton submits to a psychiatric report and receives a favorable recommendation.

The deal is scheduled to be finalized on March 18 in District Judge Don Chairez's courtroom.

Herndon has said that one of his goals in the case was to reach a resolution without forcing the students to testify in court.

Patton is charged with 13 counts of sexual misconduct involving two female students in homes in Henderson and Boulder City.

Patton was placed on administrative leave Dec. 5 from the Catholic high school and resigned from his teaching position several days later.

He has been on house arrest on the orders of Henderson Justice of the Peace Kent Dawson, with the condition that Patton have no contact with the victims or any other former students.

The law making sexual contact between teachers and students a felony crime went into effect Oct. 1.