Man sentenced for sex with minor avoids prison

OKANOGAN, Wash. – A former Grand Coulee Dam Middle School teacher and reserve police officer who pleaded guilty to having sex with a 15-year-old student has been spared a prison term.

Vernon E. Heizer, 51, of Nespelem, was sentenced Friday in Okanogan County Superior Court to two years and 10 months, but a judge suspended all but the nine months he already has spent in jail.

Heizer can stay out of prison by successfully completing three to four years of outpatient sex offender treatment and meeting other conditions. He is barred from any contact with other minors and being within 100 yards of the home, school or workplace of the girl involved in the case.

The girl’s family agreed to the sentence so she wouldn’t have to testify in court, Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Richardson said.

Heizer pleaded guilty in March to rape of a child and child molestation and apologized to the girl and her family in a statement.

According to an investigative report filed with the charges, he met the girl when she was in his sixth-grade class, gave her a cell phone, initiated a friendship and began having sex with her when she was 14.

The relationship continued for about eight months until Heizer was arrested at his home in July after his wife reported her suspicions to authorities.

Heizer, who had been teaching in Grand Coulee since 1998 and was a Grand Coulee Dam reserve police officer, resigned from teaching in October after negotiating a $15,000 settlement with the school district to buy out the remainder of his contract.