Fife high school teacher takes plea deal in harassment case

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/323246.html
A Fife High School teacher has pleaded guilty to sending sexually suggestive text messages to a former student.

But the six other charges against business teacher Steven Weidenbach were dropped in a plea agreement.

Weidenbach, 28, was charged last November with seven misdemeanor counts based on text messages and phone calls a prosecutor said he sent to two current and three former Fife High students, all females.

Weidenbach asked current and former students in text messages what was the “most scandalous” thing they have ever done and who they would bring to a desert island, police records say.

Weidenbach, who is on paid administrative leave, pleaded guilty to one count of telephone harassment. He did not admit guilt, and entered the plea because he believed a jury would find him guilty, court records say.

Weidenbach received a two-year deferred sentence and must undergo a psychological evaluation. If he is not found guilty of a crime in the next two years, his conviction will be dismissed.

Four counts of telephone harassment and two counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes were dropped.

Jeff Short, deputy superintendent for the Fife School District, said Weidenbach will remain on paid administrative leave while the district completes its own investigation. He said Weidenbach’s guilty plea is “not necessarily” grounds for dismissal, since he pleaded guilty only to harassing a former student.

The former student told police that Weidenbach started text-messaging her in November 2006, when she was 18. She graduated in June 2006.

She said Weidenbach asked her who she’d slept with, what teacher she would want to spend time with and what the “most scandalous” thing she’d ever done was. The former student said Weidenbach, who lived near her, also said, “Too bad they put the fence up in your backyard, can’t see you in the hot tub anymore,” police records say.

She said she never felt threatened by the comments, “maybe just a little weirded out,” police records say.

The teacher’s text messages were first reported in October of last year; the district then put Weidenbach on leave.

Weidenbach pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $5,000 fine and one year in jail.

Fife prosecutor John Rodabaugh, who offered the plea deal, couldn’t be reached for comment Monday. Fife Municipal Court Judge Kevin Ringus accepted the agreement March 25.

Weidenbach pleaded not guilty to all seven counts in November.

He was in his fifth year of teaching at Fife High. He also was adviser for the school’s Future Business Leaders of America club.

Weidenbach did not return phone calls Monday from The News Tribune.

“My client’s position was a lot of what he was alleged to have said was misinterpreted,” said Donald Winskill, Weidenbach’s attorney. “The prosecutor knew he had proof problems. We knew we had exposure. It was a compromise.”

Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647