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June 21, 2005

Teacher guilty of child-sex charges

A former Boone High School chemistry teacher accused of carrying on a long affair with one of his students pleaded guilty Monday to 46 counts of lewd and lascivious battery with a child younger than 16.

Dang Van Dinh, 30, becomes the latest Central Florida teacher to be prosecuted on charges of having a sexual relationship with an underage student.

Dinh's attorney, meanwhile, said the student consented to the sexual relations and that his client "jumped the gun" by engaging in an affair with the teenage girl. Consent will likely become a key issue during Dinh's upcoming sentencing because it is a factor the judge may consider in determining his punishment.

Orange Circuit Judge Bob Wattles found Dinh guilty and remanded him to the Orange County Jail immediately following his plea Monday. Dinh will be sentenced in about six weeks. Wattles has indicated that he would sentence Dinh to between five and 20 years in prison.

Earlier this year, Dinh turned down an offer from prosecutors to plead guilty to one count in exchange for 10 years in prison followed by five years of sex-offender probation.

But on Monday, Dinh pleaded guilty to all 46 counts. Prosecutors charged Dinh, who had lived in Winter Park, with one count for each week of his relationship with the teenage girl between November 2003 and September 2004.

Pleading directly to the judge can be risky, but Dinh's lawyer was hopeful that his client will receive less prison time because of the circumstances involved.

"I'm looking to come under the 10 years because of the uniqueness of this case," said Joel Spector, Dinh's attorney.

He noted that the student in this case consented to the relationship and that Dinh had no prior record.

"He just jumped the gun on a love affair," Spector said. "It was totally consensual. But it's illegal."

Charol Shakeshaft, a Hofstra University professor who completed a national report on child sex abuse by public-school teachers for the U.S. Department of Education, insisted "there is no such thing as consent when it comes to a minor."

"It doesn't matter if the student agrees to a sexual relationship with a teacher. It is still illegal and violates the teacher's responsibility to keep the student safe," she stated in an e-mail Monday.

Dinh taught chemistry during the 2003-04 school year at Boone but was not rehired. His victim was a student at Boone.

He was then hired to teach science at Bishop Moore Catholic High School but was fired when school officials learned of his arrest in October.

In theory, Dinh could be sentenced to between 3,735.5 months to 690 years in prison for all the counts to which he pleaded, Assistant State Attorney William Jay said. But Jay said he'll be asking the judge for a sentence consistent with his original plea offer.

"I still think he needs 10 years followed by five [years of probation]," said Jay, explaining that the victim in this case was spending weekends with Dinh.

"It's morally wrong. It's legally wrong," Jay said. "On top of that, we're not just talking about any old 29- or 30-year-old man. It's a teacher in a position of power, a position of trust."

Jay said the girl remains "emotionally attached, and she was holding out hope that nothing would happen [to Dinh]."

Jay said the appellate courts have allowed a victim's consent in such cases to be considered in granting sentences that depart from state guidelines.

Dinh's guilty pleas were the latest developments in a spate of illegal relationships between Central Florida students and their teachers or counselors.

Last June, Marion County authorities arrested Tampa-area teacher Debra Beasley Lafave on charges of having sex with a 14-year-old student in a classroom, her apartment and in a car. She was then 23 and has since attempted to reach a plea deal with prosecutors.

In January, Lake County officials arrested 25-year-old Morgan Lee Brown of Eustis, saying she had sex with a 16-year-old boy at a residential facility for troubled teens. Brown was a camp counselor at Rivendell Youths Program in Altoona.

In April, Cocoa police arrested sixth-grade Brevard teacher Daniel Cliatt on 48 counts of sexual battery and 48 counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child. Investigators said Cliatt committed the acts on a 13-year-old boy on school grounds.

Shakeshaft said researchers are aware of more reports of improper relationships between teachers and students, but there is no way of telling if there is an increase in incidents of "sexual exploitation."

Spector, however, maintained that Dinh's relationship with his student was a loving one.

"It's a tragic story because I think theirs was a genuine love affair," Spector said. "It was never exploitative. It was never manipulative. It was just unfortunate."

But Jay said the girl's parents in this case never expected advances toward their daughter would be made by a teacher.

"Parents have to worry about every boy in the school," Jay said. "They shouldn't have to worry about every faculty member, too."

Posted by Nealus at June 21, 2005 12:46 PM

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