This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A former St. George high school teacher has been sentenced to prison for fondling three young girls and a woman over the course of several years.

John Robert James Cody, 42, was sentenced Tuesday in 5th District Court on four second-degree felony sex charges and one class A misdemeanor. Cody will serve between four and 30 years in prison, Washington County prosecutor Ryan Shaum said.

According to court documents, Cody, a former social studies teacher at Pineview High School in St. George, grabbed a woman's breast and touched a girl underneath her swimming suit at an apartment complex swimming pool in June 2008.

Later that year, another girl reported that Cody threw her into the swimming pool and touched her underneath her suit.

He was also charged last year with sexually abusing a girl when she was 10 years old.

Cody later told one girls' mother that he was "sick, has a problem and that he needs professional help," according to court documents.