Ex Hamshire-Fannett teacher gets 15 years for sex assault of a child

By Heather Nolan

A former Hamshire-Fannett Middle School teacher who previously pleaded guilty to a charge of improper relationship between an educator and student and sexual assault of a child, was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison.

Timothy Russell Verdon, 51, pleaded with 252nd District Court Judge Layne Walker to abide by the recommended plea deal – 15 years on each charge, to be served concurrently – telling the judge that since his arrest he lost his wife, his job, his retirement and his house.

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“What about this little girl?” Walker asked, referring to the victim.

Walker asked the the girl’s uncle, who was in court to give a victim impact statement, if his family agreed to the sentence. The uncle said he would like Verdon to receive life without parole, though he knew that was not an option. He said they agreed to the sentence because they did not want to put the victim through a trial.

Verdon, who appeared in court in a red jail jumpsuit, could have gotten 40 years in prison.

Walker told Verdon that if he had not been caught being a “pervert” with this girl, he probably still would be out molesting children, adding that people like him destroy the credibility of teachers.

Addressing Verdon after sentencing, the uncle called Verdon “absolutely disgusting.”

He said Verdon told the girl, whose mother and grandmother died sometime before the relationship began, that “God meant for us to be together.”

According to a probable cause affidavit for his arrest, Verdon and a female student, who now is 18, began talking on the phone and spending time together in May of 2008.

Verdon was the girl’s eighth-grade history teacher at Hamshire-Fannett Junior High, the affidavit showed.

The only incident of sexual intercourse reportedly occurred in August 2008 at the Imperial Motel in Jefferson County, the affidavit said. However, it said the girl told investigators about oral sex that reportedly occurred 20 times in a two-year period.

Verdon pleaded guilty to the charges March 21. After he agreed to the state’s plea deal, Walker increased his bond to $1 million and he was taken to the Jefferson County Correctional Facility. His bond previously had been set at $50,000.

Source : chron