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Carrie McCandless
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Ex-Brighton teacher offered plea deal in sex case
Carrie McCandless is accused of sexual conduct with a student during a
field trip. She and her attorney will consider the offer.
By John Ingold
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 01/22/2007 09:30:35 PM MST
Fort Collins - Prosecutors have offered a plea deal to former Brighton
Charter School teacher Carrie McCandless, who is accused of having
sexual contact with a teenage student during a field trip.
The offer was revealed in Larimer County District Court today, where
McCandless was to have a preliminary hearing.
But Michael Trani, McCandless' attorney, asked judge James Hiatt to
postpone the hearing so that he and McCandless could have time to
consider the offer.
"We received an offer from the district attorney last week," Trani
told Hiatt. "The offer is contingent on her waiving her right to a
preliminary hearing."
At a preliminary hearing, a handful of witnesses give testimony to
allow the judge to determine whether the case should go to a trial,
with more in-depth testimony. If judges find basic evidence lacking at
a preliminary hearing, they can throw out the case.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Pierson confirmed the plea offer
during the brief hearing today.
"Mr. Trani and I have been talking," he said. "We are negotiating."
Pierson declined to comment on the details of the plea offer following
the hearing, and Trani left without offering comment.
McCandless, 30, is a former social studies teacher at Brighton Charter
School. In late October she chaperoned an overnight field trip to the
YMCA of the Rockies retreat in Estes Park.
Authorities accuse McCandless of drinking with and having sexual
contact with a 17-year-old male student during the trip.
The student told police that he and McCandless drank, kissed and
fondled one another at a cabin at the retreat, according to McCandless'
arrest affidavit. The student said the two also "made out" once in the
parking lot of a Sam's Club, the affidavit states.
Another student told police that she saw McCandless and the
17-year-old kissing in the cabin, according to the affidavit. After
the trip, a fellow teacher found a note passed between McCandless and
the 17-year-old that McCandless had torn up, the affidavit reads.
"It was totally fun," McCandless wrote, in part, according to the
affidavit.
When allegations emerged two days after the trip about McCandless'
having inappropriate contact with a student during the trip,
McCandless met with Chris McCandless, her husband and also the
Brighton Charter School principal, and charter school board president
David Mundy. During that meeting, Carrie McCandless said the student
had kissed her while the two were outside smoking, but that she pulled
away and told him it was inappropriate, according to the affidavit.
School officials didn't report the allegations to police, and police
have said they didn't know about the allegations until early November,
when a television news reporter called them. Mundy has since been
charged with felony tampering with a witness or victim and misdemeanor
failure to report child abuse. He has denied any wrongdoing, and said
he followed the advice of the school's attorney.
McCandless has been fired from the school, and Mundy has resigned from
the school board.
McCandless' preliminary hearing is now scheduled for Feb. 22, to allow
time for McCandless to consider the plea offer and for prosecutors and
her attorney to wrangle over whether the 17-year-old should be called
to testify at the preliminary hearing.
Update:
Former
Brighton teacher in sex case violates probation, jailed
Originally published April 1,
2008
The teacher guilty of having
sex with a student at Brighton Collegiate High School is in jail for
violating terms of her probation — namely having sex with another
parolee and testing positive for alcohol consumption.
Carrie McCandless began serving
a 30-day jail sentence at the Larimer County Detention Center Friday
after voluntarily turning herself in to Weld County Probation
officials.
She did not appear in court to
contest the violations, according to Larimer County district attorney
officials. McCandless waived the court appearance by signing documents
dated March 13.
The sexual encounter was
discovered on March 6 when a parole officer arrived at the apartment
of another one of his parolees and he found McCandless in bed there.
The sex was a violation of her probation terms because it was not
reported to or approved by McCandless' treatment team.
Upon discovering her at the
apartment, McCandless also did not originally disclose the offense to
the parole officer. The encounter also resulted in her violation of
the 8:30 p.m. curfew established as a term of her probation.
McCandless also had another
sexual encounter in December that was not approved or reported to the
treatment team.
Her probation violations
related to alcohol date back to last year.
Just a month after being
sentenced in June 2007 for the unlawful sexual contact with the
student and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, she tested
positive for alcohol consumption.
She also missed two random
alcohol tests in February.
While McCandless, 32, taught at
the Brighton school, she served as a chaperone for a group of students
on a camping trip to the YMCA of the Rockies Camp near Estes Park in
October 2006.
She pleaded guilty in April
2007 to two misdemeanors — unlawful sexual contact and contributing to
the delinquency of a minor — and to tampering with physical evidence,
a felony, and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
McCandless also got supervised
probation for five years and registration as a sex offender for 10
years for the unlawful sexual contact charge. She received a four-year
deferred sentence on the delinquency charge, and a two-year deferred
sentence for the tampering charge.
She also has to be registered
as a sex offender for 10 years.
Source: By
David Montero, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/apr/01/former-brighton-teacher-sex-case-violates-probatio/ |
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