Teacher is sentenced to two years. The victim was deported back to Mexico earlier this month.
Feb 28, 2007 - Jorge Covarrubias, 32, a Napa High School teacher, is still free on bail after being convicted last August of sexually molesting a high school student, starting when the boy was 15.
His sentencing has been delayed twice. His next scheduled court appearance is Mar 29.
Napa Police detective Judy Bond, the lead investigator in the Covarrubias case, is upset he is not in custody.The incidents took place between November 2003 and August 2004, when the teen, now 18, was 15 years old. During this time, the boy was a student at Napa High School, but not a student in Covarrubias’ math class. Covarrubias and the victim met at Napa High School.
“A jury of his peers convicted him of nine counts of child molestation. The victim deserves justice. When a jury takes it own time and works hard on a trial and comes to a guilty verdict, the person should be taken into custody,” Bond said.
“I have never worked a case where a person was convicted of child molest or sexual assault and not taken into custody.”
His attorney said that Covarrubias is on unpaid administrative leave with the school district, and that his teaching credential was revoked when he was convicted.
Mar 29 - Covarrubias was sentenced to two years in state prison. The judge ruled he does not have to register as a sex offender.
From the Press-Enteprise: The abuse, prosecutors said, began when the boy was 15, after the teen's father allowed the boy to live with Covarrubias.
Their source was the Napa Valley Register:
The boy and his father had a rocky relationship. The father went to the school and sought advice about his son from Covarrubias, who was also a school counselor. After visiting the victim and his father at their home, Covarrubias offered to let the boy live with him to “straighten him out.” The boy’s father agreed.The prosecutor read a letter from the boy: "I met (Covarrubias) at school and thought he was a nice guy. I thought he was someone I could trust. Now, I don’t feel normal. I question my sexuality. He betrayed me and I don’t know if I can ever trust anyone again.”
The prosecutor said Covarrubias used his position of trust to lure the boy into the sexual relationship. He said the victim had a troubled life and Covarrubias took advantage of it. “His mother died. His father abandoned him (giving over custody of the boy to Covarrubias.) His father had no money to take care of him. He threatened to send him back to Mexico. The boy was vulnerable.”
The prosecutor argued at the sentencing that the sexual relationship between the defendant and the victim was anything but consensual.“He told the defendant ‘no’ many times. The victim said he was thinking of suicide,” Gero said. “There was nothing enjoyable for the victim about the relationship. This is not a Romeo and Juliet statutory rape case.”
