Former teacher faces time in county jail

BY STACI WILSON

A retired Montrose Area art teacher will serve jail time after he admitted Friday to attempting to foster a romantic and sexual relationship with a student more than 20 years ago and touching her inappropriately.

Robert Smith, 66, of Montrose, pleaded guilty inSusquehanna County Courtto one misdemeanor count of corruption of minors.

Smith, who retired from teaching in 2001, admitted that he touched parts of the student’s body, including her breasts and vaginal area at various locations in Susquehanna County over a two-year time period, 1990-92.

He was immediately sentenced to serve four and one-half to 23 and one-half months in the Susquehanna County Correctional Facility by President Judge Kenneth Seamans.

The other charges lodged against him in the case, including aggravated indecent assault  and indecent exposure, were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

District Attorney Jason Legg said the victim had been notified of the agreement and consented to it.

The Times-Tribune does not identify the victims of sexual assault.

Prior to the issuing of the sentence, the district attorney said the victim requested he read her statement to the court.

In the statement the victim said that Smith had “stolen her trust in many ways” and that she had looked up to him as a father figure but she now feels that all of the praise and support he had given her in art class was “insincere” and meant only to further his sexual advances.

She said that even 20 years later, she still finds it difficult to trust people; lost confidence in her art abilities and mistrusts teachers.

The victim also said that for years she “believed all men cheated on their wives.”

In the statement, the victim said that after an occurrence Smith would promise her he wouldn’t do it again. “You knew it was wrong. Why did you persist in doing it?” she said in her statement.

“I hated you then and I hate you now,” she wrote.

But she told the court, that through the years she had kept all of the “love letters” Smith had written to her. “Today, I’m glad I kept them,” the victim wrote.

After charges were filed against Smith in October 2010, the victim said that even though she no longer lives in the Montrose area, her relationships with high school friends have been impacted by “trash talk.”

The talk, she wrote, has sullied her name.

Since coming forward, the victim also said in her statement that she has had to relive the headaches and heartache as well as endure “snide comments from (Smith’s) loyal followers.”

“There is no joy for me in this prosecution,” she wrote.

Legg described the victim as a “compassionate young lady.”

He said, “Her only concern was that people know what the truth was.”

The district attorney also told the court the former student aptly described some of the reasons why sexual abuse victims delay reporting incidents.

“It often results in a second victimization from the community,” Legg said and spoke of people who had offered opinions on the case without knowing the facts.

Legg acknowledged that Smith has done a great deal for students and the community.

Therefore, he said, “the visceral reaction from the community seems to be stronger.”

Legg said Smith’s acceptance of his guilt in the matter speaks to his character and called for the community to “stop attacking the victim.”

“There’s work to be done in the community,” Legg said.

Attorney Paul Ackourey described his client as a “mixed bag.”

“What he did in this case violated his moral obligation to the law; violated his moral obligation to his student; and violated his moral obligation to his wife,” Ackourey said.

But he also described Smith as a man who had, through the years, been involved in and contributed to the community.

The defense attorney pointed out that numerous letters of support were submitted to the court attesting to Smith’s character from members of the community and former students.

In addition to the jail time, Smith will be placed on probation for one year. In that time, the judge said he is not to have unsupervised contact with females under 18 years of age.