Former Teacher Admits Falling In Love With Student Says He Hugged, Kissed 14-Year-Old, But Did Not Have Sex With Her
A former Garry Middle School teacher accused of having sex with a student admits falling in love with the girl, whom he gave a ring and promised to marry.
The relationship between Paul Ramsey, 39, and the 14-year-old student began last year as friendship, defense attorney Carl Oreskovich said Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court.
“But there is no dispute that Mr. Ramsey’s feelings about (the girl) changed,” Oreskovich said in his opening statement.
Ramsey is on trial, charged with third-degree rape of a child. He admits hugging, kissing and making sexual advances toward the girl last summer but denies having sex with her.
The victim said the two had sex in her bedroom while her parents were at work July 5.
“Here Mr. Ramsey says, ‘Yes I did this, yes I did that, yes, yes, yes, but no, we didn’t have sex,”’ said deputy prosecutor Mary Ann Brady. “He was leading up to sex. It was exactly what he was doing.”
The victim testified Tuesday that Ramsey visited her South Hill house often, bringing cards and gifts, including a gold ring with two hearts and a diamond on it.
The girl, now a high school freshman, also said he wrote letters to her in a notebook and told her he loved her.
In their letters, Ramsey and the girl discussed where and when they would have sex. She wanted to wait until his birthday, which is in August.
“When we talked on the phone he would say he loved me or he missed me, things like that,” the honors student said.
On July 5, Ramsey came to her home and the two started kissing on her bed, the girl said.
“He asked me if I wanted to have sex with him,” she said. “I really didn’t respond. I just sort of shrugged my shoulders.”
Oreskovich said the student made up the story because she was angry at her father for getting remarried. Before her father’s wedding, the girl told Ramsey she was unhappy about it.
“Her motivation to make this false accusation is to get her father’s attention,” Oreskovich told the jury. “She was angry she had to share her father with his new wife.”
Ramsey doesn’t deny “engaging in inappropriate judgment” with the student, whom he met in a math and science club he helped sponsor at Garry, Oreskovich said. But the teacher cooled the relationship before sexual intercourse ever occurred, the attorney argued.
“He began to withdraw,” Oreskovich said. “He said, ‘This is inappropriate. I’m 38 years old, you’re 14. I’m a teacher.”’ On July 16, two weeks after the alleged intercourse, the girl’s stepmother found Ramsey’s notebook of letters and some cards in the girl’s room. When her parents confronted her, the girl admitted having sex with Ramsey.
They filed a complaint with the Spokane School District. An investigation into the charges resulted in Ramsey’s termination.
Authorities with the state superintendent’s office of professional practices also are investigating him and may revoke his teaching certificate.
Ramsey, a Shadle Park High School and Eastern Washington University graduate, has five children by three women. Before moving to Spokane, he taught in Rathdrum, where he was named Teacher of the Year in 1991.
If convicted, Ramsey faces 12 to 14 months in prison. He is expected to testify today.
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