Ex-teacher gets jail sentence

Former Ferris High School teacher Sayeed X pleaded guilty Monday to having sex with one of his students, a 16-year-old girl, in his first year on the job.

X, 34, is to begin serving a six-month jail term on Sept. 19 under a plea bargain approved by Spokane County Superior Court Judge Greg Sypolt.

One of the victim’s parents called X a “monster” who had violated a position of trust, but X rejected that characterization while acknowledging he was “suffering the consequences of my decisions.”

“I wouldn’t consider myself a monster,” he said. “I try to be the best person I can be.”

The former social studies and history teacher and assistant basketball coach said he was involved in a situation that “got out of hand.”

X pleaded for mercy in a halting statement in which he apologized to the court, the school district, the victim’s family and the victim.

“I know, you know, what I put myself through,” X said. “I know the situation. I understand everything that comes with it, and I’m ready to carry that burden and, when everything’s said and done, dust the dirt off my name and go forward.”

He asked Sypolt to show mercy for the sake of his children, but the judge imposed the sentence called for in X’s plea bargain.

The deal, negotiated by Deputy Prosecutor John Love and defense attorney Rob Cossey, spared X a felony record but doubled his probation from two years to four.

X pleaded guilty to three gross misdemeanors: communication with a minor for immoral purposes, second-degree sexual misconduct and attempted first-degree sexual misconduct.

A count of first-degree sexual misconduct, a Class C felony, was reduced to attempted first-degree sexual misconduct. Either way, X faced a maximum one-year jail term, but the reduced charge allowed twice as much probation.

X can be sent back to jail for a 1 1/2-year suspended portion of his sentence if he violates his probation.

He will be required to register as a sex offender for 10 years when he completes his sentence.

X was known as Jason Steele when he was charged with armed drug dealing in November 1998. Spokane Public Schools officials failed to discover the charge in a pre-hiring background check because the case was dismissed in a plea bargain.

Spokane Police said Steele had a loaded and illegally concealed revolver and $8,320 in cash when they stopped his Ford Bronco while looking for a first-degree attempted-murder suspect who had been using the vehicle. They said they found more firearms and $15,000 worth of crack cocaine, along with scales and other drug-dealing paraphernalia, when they searched two apartments associated with Steele and his brother, Robert Collier, the attempted-murder suspect.

Cossey said in court Monday that X won’t resist state officials’ pending efforts to revoke his teaching certificate.

Monday’s conviction should ensure that X is never again hired as a teacher, Love said.

“Anyone who does an adequate search of his criminal history should find this conviction and, I would hope, wouldn’t hire him,” Love said.

The sexual-misconduct investigation began in February, shortly before X resigned his teaching position as part of a deal in which he will continue to draw his Spokane Public Schools salary through Aug. 31. He was formally charged on April 8 with misconduct between Dec. 1, 2003, and March 31, 2004 – with a girl who was 16 and 17 at the time.

Any sex between a teacher and a student is illegal in Washington unless they are married.

X called the girl his “present and future wife” in a love note. He and his actual wife had a baby on April 17, 2004.

According to court documents, X had acknowledged writing six notes to the student and that he hugged and kissed her on the forehead and cheek. He acknowledged having a close relationship with her and talking to her about sex, sexual arousal, marriage and their future relationship together as husband and wife.

She told police X had sex with her in various Ferris High classrooms.

X was caught when friends of the girl, who saw X’s love notes, reported the illicit affair to another teacher on Jan. 20.

The first note X sent to the girl was last year, according to a school district investigation. They often had long talks, and friends noticed a lot of hugs and interactions between the two. He gave her gifts, such as a book and jewelry, and gave her specific times to call him at home, a school district investigator reported.

At first, talking to X was like talking to a counselor, the girl told the investigator. Then, she said, their hugs escalated to kissing and sex.

After spring break last year, the girl said, X stopped speaking with her. According to the school district investigation, she told him on the last day of school “to burn in hell.”

But the girl reportedly said X resumed making sexual remarks to her when a new school year started last fall. She wanted him to stop, but didn’t know how to confront him, according to the school district investigation.