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Silver Summit • A former Park City middle school band teacher will serve up to 15 years in prison after admitting he paid a 13-year-old student to participate in a fake scientific study that included questions about the boy's sexuality.
Though an attorney for 54-year-old Derek Spitzer asked for a jail term and lengthy probation, 3rd District Judge Paige Petersen said the former teacher's crimes were "too serious" and ordered a prison sentence instead.
"When a child is a victim, it is just extremely serious," she told Spitzer. "I can not go below a prison term here."
Spitzer pleaded guilty in May to two second-degree felony counts of enticing a minor. The judge sentenced him to serve a one-to-15 year prison term on each count, but allowed the sentences to run concurrently to one another.
The defendant told Petersen that he would never teach again, and said he couldn't explain why he acted inappropriately with this boy in particular among the thousands of students with whom he has interacted in his 32 years of teaching.
"Frankly, I'm scared of myself," Spitzer said. "I don't know why this happened … I couldn't feel worse than I do."
Prosecutor Joy Natale said the victim — who did not participate in Monday's sentencing — has been scarred by the experience and was "very upset" that his favorite teacher took advantage of him. Natale said Spitzer and the teen exchanged over 500 emails, messages that she described as "explicit in nature" that showed Spitzer "clearly actively grooming" the victim.
While no actual touching or sexual contact occurred, Natale expressed concern about Spitzer's actions and recommended a prison sentence.
"This is not Mr. Spitzer getting drunk one night and sending a couple of emails that were inappropriate," she said. "This is an ongoing pattern of behavior."
The ex-teacher had offered to pay the student to take part in a "research project" with the "Kinsey Institute of Male Sexuality," according to charging documents.
Under the guise of a study, Spitzer sent emails to the student asking for measurements of his genitals and details of his sexuality, as well as requesting nude photos and a video of the student's genitals, charges state.
The student said Spitzer also gave him a $50 "thank you" card, charges state.
The student reported the correspondence to a school counselor when Spitzer began seeking sexual contact with the boy, charges state.
Spitzer allegedly wrote that he wanted a "sexual experience" with the boy, and to take him to Las Vegas, where the man "would be conducting sexual research on other nude males," charges state.
Spitzer was fired from his job in January.