Reported by: Tanya O'Rourke
Photographed by: 9News
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
A man once entrusted with educating and coaching students at Madison High School will now spend three years in prison for having sexual encounters with one of them.
A judge gave 32-year old David Wagner that sentence Thursday.
Wagner admitted he had a sexual contact with an 18-year-old girl he coached in softball, but maintained that it was a consensual relationship.
Because of his position of authority, however, the crime is a third-degree felony.
On Thursday Wagner pleaded with a Butler County judge for leniency, saying his wife and family need him as well.
"I know I have to be punished," he said with tears in his eyes, "But I hope, as I said in my letter to you, that you can consider my family as well. I have two small children who I am very important to and the worst thing I ever had to do in my life was hold my daughter last night and tell her that I had to go."
The mother of Wagner's victim disagreed.
She spoke to the court, telling the judge that Wagner was only sorry he was caught and that he had had a relationship with a student before.
She angrily spoke to Wagner, telling him he had inflicted untold damage on her family.
"What you did to our daughter is inexcusable," said the victim's mother. "At her softball games, you could look her Dad and I in the eye. Speak to us. All the while knowing what you were planning on doing. Unconscionable."
Wagner has already surrendered his Ohio teaching license and will now have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
