A teacher who ran anti-drug programs for students has been sentenced to home confinement for selling cocaine.
Mark Gingras, who formerly taught at Silver Hills Elementary School in Kearns, was given a harsh lecture Thursday by U.S. District Judge David Winder.Winder also ordered six months confinement at Gingras' parents' home in Murray and put him on probation.
His marriage wrecked, his career ruined, his finances collapsed, Gingras' lust for cocaine had put him through the wringer, the judge said.
"There are consequences of trying to do cocaine on a teacher's salary," said Gingras' attorney, Steve McCaughey.
Despite Gingras' lighter sentence, the judge expressed disappointment in the former Granite School District teacher.
"This is as grudging an acceptance of responsibility as I have ever seen. This gentleman wants to blame everyone else," the judge said. "Nobody made him take cocaine or deal in cocaine but himself."
Since his 1990 arrest, Gingras has continued to blame a confidential police informant for his legal woes, the judge.
Moreover, he's been convicted of an alcohol-related driving offense and had an escalated domestic dispute that attracted the attention of authorities, the judge said.
After the judge discussed Gingras' attitude, the defendant complied with his attorney's advice and did not address the court before the sentencing.
In exchange for his guilty plea to selling 10.3 grams of cocaine to an undercover officer, prosecutors dismissed another drug charge against him.