TACOMA, Wash. — “I made some horrible decisions your honor and I’m ashamed of that,” Allen, 33, said during a sentencing hearing Tuesday.
Allen admitted having an ongoing sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl while he was a teacher at Curtis High School in University Place. He was arrested in February on charges of sexual misconduct with a minor.
“What I did, I did without thinking how it would hurt the victim,” Allen said as he fought back tears.
The father of two is in divorce proceedings with his wife of 10 years who said in a letter to the court she left him after learning of the charges earlier this year
Allen was arrested a second time when he arranged a secret meeting with the teenager while out on bail. He was charged with violating a court order to stay away from her and his bail increased to $100,000
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frank Cuthbertson sentenced Allen to more than a year and a half in prison and handed down a suspended sentence of one year for violating the no contact order. Allen will be credited with the time he has served in the Pierce County Jail where he has been held since late March.
Cuthbertson sternly lectured Allen saying his teenage victim continued to suffer because she had to go back to school and face her fellow students after his arrest.
“You’re a high school teacher, you know what happens,” Cuthbertson said to Allen. “The snickers, the rumors the stares and basically (she’ll) just get emotionally beaten up because of what you did.”
Allen must undergo a psychosexual evaluation as part of this sentence. He’ll also have to register as a sex offender.
KIRO
