Ex-teacher gets probation in sex case
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A Baton Rouge man who admitted last month to sending sexually explicit messages and images to a teenage Louisiana School for the Deaf student while teaching there was put on active supervised probation for five years on Tuesday.
Christopher Joseph Watson, 39, declined District Judge Tony Marabella’s invitation to address the court before he was sentenced on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
Across the hall from Marabella’s courtroom, a graduate of the School for the Deaf pleaded innocent in front of District Judge Wilson Fields to the same charge involving the same girl.
Brandon Louis Veronie Sr., 29, of Erath, is due back in Fields’ court in February for a hearing on any motions filed in the case.
Watson and Veronie, who are both deaf and were assisted in court by a sign language interpreter, were among five people arrested between November and April on sex-related charges involving students at the school on Brightside Lane.
Three of those arrested were current or former teachers at the school.
Watson, a former social studies teacher at the school; Amanda Elizabeth Key, a suspended physical education teacher and coach at the school; and Joey Eugene Thomas, a former student at the school, all recently pleaded guilty.
Key and Thomas also were put on probation.
Veronie’s attorney, Jim Holt, said he intends to go to trial.
As special conditions of Watson’s probation, Marabella said he must perform 50 hours of community service, register as a sex offender and continue counseling. He was also ordered to not be in the presence of minors while unsupervised, except with his own children, he cannot access any Internet social networks or chat sites, and he can have no contact with the victim or her family.
Marabella said he will review Watson’s case in February.
Watson, Key, Veronie and Nathan Boyes were arrested on charges relating to the same 16-year-old student. The case against Boyes, a former physical education teacher at the school, is pending.
Thomas’ arrest involved an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old student at the school.
Christopher Joseph Watson, 39, declined District Judge Tony Marabella’s invitation to address the court before he was sentenced on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
Across the hall from Marabella’s courtroom, a graduate of the School for the Deaf pleaded innocent in front of District Judge Wilson Fields to the same charge involving the same girl.
Brandon Louis Veronie Sr., 29, of Erath, is due back in Fields’ court in February for a hearing on any motions filed in the case.
Watson and Veronie, who are both deaf and were assisted in court by a sign language interpreter, were among five people arrested between November and April on sex-related charges involving students at the school on Brightside Lane.
Three of those arrested were current or former teachers at the school.
Watson, a former social studies teacher at the school; Amanda Elizabeth Key, a suspended physical education teacher and coach at the school; and Joey Eugene Thomas, a former student at the school, all recently pleaded guilty.
Key and Thomas also were put on probation.
Veronie’s attorney, Jim Holt, said he intends to go to trial.
As special conditions of Watson’s probation, Marabella said he must perform 50 hours of community service, register as a sex offender and continue counseling. He was also ordered to not be in the presence of minors while unsupervised, except with his own children, he cannot access any Internet social networks or chat sites, and he can have no contact with the victim or her family.
Marabella said he will review Watson’s case in February.
Watson, Key, Veronie and Nathan Boyes were arrested on charges relating to the same 16-year-old student. The case against Boyes, a former physical education teacher at the school, is pending.
Thomas’ arrest involved an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old student at the school.
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