A former elementary school teacher was sentenced to a maximum term of five years to life in the Utah State Prison for sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl in 1988.
Charles Dean Garritson's sentence was handed down Thursday after an impassioned plea by the victim's mother, who also is Garritson's former sister-in-law.She asked for the maximum sentence not only for the offense against her daughter, now 18, but also, she alleged, for sexual abuse committed against at least seven other children related to Garritson.
Prosecutors said that in his confession, Garritson, 45, admitted to sexually abusing three other children of relatives, but Davis County Attorney Mel Wilson said the statute of limitations has run out.
The woman also asked for an investigation by the Davis School District to determine if Garritson, who taught at Syracuse Elementary School, molested any students during the seven years before he resigned in 1992.
Davis Superintendent Richard Kendell said the district found no evidence Garritson ever molested schoolchildren, but he plans to investigate further.
Garritson, who moved to Idaho sometime after leaving the school district, met with Syracuse police in September and confessed to molesting the woman's daughter. He was arrested and pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree felony attempted sexual abuse of a child.
Although the charge related to a series of incidents in 1988 when the girl was staying over at Garritson's Syracuse home, the mother said she believes the abuse started when her daughter was 5.
The woman also said the other children allegedly molested have indicated it occurred over a 25-year period.
Garritson's lawyer, David Cole, unsuccessfully sought to have 2nd District Judge W. Brent West postpone sentencing and order his client to undergo a mental health evaluation.
However, West said he believed a mental health evaluation "would only delay the inevitable."
"Your acts were hideous, offensive and downright cruel," the judge said.