Aug. 29, 2023 3:15p
(WGTD)---A former music teacher received a two-year prison term Tuesday for having consensual sexual relations with an underaged co-worker.
40 year-old Zachary Wendt had pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault of a child by a person who works or volunteers with children. Whether or not consent is given isn't a mitigating circumstance when it comes to a victim as young as 16.
Wendt, a former band teacher at Wheatland Center School, worked with the victim at a Burlington music store.
"She's 16, almost 17 years-old," Wendt's attorney, Mark Richards said of the girl. "She's not a child."
That may have been the wrong thing to say. Judge Timothy Boyle has a 16-year-old child. "A 16 year-old is still a child. I have a 16 year-old. I Know they mature much faster these days," Boyle said, "I think social media has ruined the childhood of a lot of kids," he said.
Wendt and the girl had traded sexually explicit photos and messages along with having sexual relations on at least two occasions.
Boyle said Wendt, an honorably discharged veteran, had "failed miserably" and should've known better, given his training as a teacher. "For some reason you let your guard down," Boyle said.
When it was his turn to speak, Wendt apologized. "I know I'm going to pay for this the rest of my life," he said. "I hurt my family, parents, kids and my colleagues...and every single student I ever taught."
In addition to prison, Boyle ordered three years' of extended supervision as a registered sex offender.
As the sentence was being passed, Wendt bowed his head and rubbed his eyes.
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