A former West High School teacher will spend at least 11 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing a student, a Utah judge determined Monday.
The ruling comes nearly three months after a 3rd District Court jury convicted the former creative writing and language arts teacher of three counts of object rape, a first-degree felony; two counts of forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony; and two counts of forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony.
The charges against Sterrett Oney Neale stem from 2017, when the victim alleged a “pattern” of abuse began in March of that year, the district attorney’s office explained in a news release Monday.
Initially, Neale would “kiss and sexually” abuse the then-17-year-old in his classroom after school, the news release stated.
By August, Neale began having the student meet him in the parking lot of St. Mark’s Hospital in Millcreek, where prosecutors said he would pick her up and drive her to his home while his wife was not there.
Once home, he would take her to his bedroom where he would sexually abuse her, the release stated. The abuse lasted for over a year.
“We appreciate the victim-survivor for her bravery to stand up to her abuser, and hope that her voice empowers others that may be suffering in silence,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement after the sentencing.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sterrett Oney Neale, a former West High School teacher found guilty of sex-related against a student, appears in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.
Third District Judge Teresa Welch handed down indeterminate sentences for each of Neale’s seven felonies, grouping some to run concurrently together and others to run consecutively.
That means Neale will first serve a minimum of 11 years in prison but could remain imprisoned for up to life. That’s up to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, which will decide whether he will serve additional time, including up to that maximum sentence.
“This sentence sends a strong message to our community that those in a special position of trust with our children will be held accountable if they violate that trust,” Gill said Monday.
A spokesperson for the Salt Lake City School District declined to comment on Neale’s sentencing.