MANTI — A 6th District Court jury found a former Wasatch Academy science teacher and coach guilty Friday on charges of having sexual relations with two female students during the 2003-04 school year.
Following a four-day trial, the jury found Ronald Lindberg, 37, Richfield, guilty of one count of rape, a first-degree felony; one count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a third-deree felony; and two counts of unlawfully supplying alcohol to minors.
Judge Kay McIff set sentencing for July 20. He ordered Lindberg held in the Sanpete County Jail until a hearing Wednesday. At that time, the judge will determine whether Lindberg will be permitted to remain free on bail until sentencing.
The prosecution never suggested that force was involved in any of the encounters. Under Utah law, a person who exploits a special relationship of trust or influence to entice someone into sexual activity can be charged with rape, said Brodoy Keisel, deputy Sanpete County attorney.
As a teacher, Lindberg was in such a position with Carmen Johnson, now an adult, who was the prosecution's primary witness. Lindberg was her academic adviser at Wasatch, a private boarding school in Mount Pleasant. She was also an aide in his biology class and was taking an anatomy class from him.
The unlawful sexual activity count and alcohol counts stemmed from an alleged incident Feb. 22, 2004, in which Johnson and Sage Weinglass, another Wasatch student and Johnson's best friend, went to Lindberg's house. Johnson was 16 and Weinglass 17 at the time.
Johnson testified that Lindberg invited the girls into his bedroom, served them alcohol and then had sexual intercourse with each of them.
Because Lindberg was not Weinglass' teacher and did not have a trust relationship with her, the state charged him with unlawful sexual activity, in her case, rather than rape.
The two sides presented sharply conflicting testimony during the trial.
Johnson testified that she started a sexual relationship with Lindberg at the beginning of the 2003 school year. The relationship, she said, continued until the Feb. 22 encounter. During that interval, she said, she and Lindberg had sexual contact about 10 times.
Johnson testified that during the Feb. 22 incident, Lindberg's four children, who lived with their mother a few blocks away, were visiting his home but that they were asleep in another room. She said Lindberg tied the bedroom door shut to keep the children out.
The defense maintained that Johnson and Weinglass fabricated their allegations. Lindberg's attorney, John Walsh, said that Johnson had a crush on Lindberg and created the story to keep Lindberg and his wife, Tory, from reconciling.
Lindberg testified that on Feb. 22, not only were his four children visiting him, but two of his daughters were sleeping in his bed. He denied moving them to a different room or tying the door shut.
Early that morning, Lindberg testified, a fire broke out at a neighbor's house. He said he and his children were watching firefighters fight the fire at the time of the alleged sexual activity.
Three of Lindberg's elementary-age children corroborated their father's account.
Juror Evelyn Wagstaff said the evidence was confusing and the jury doubted the truth of certain statements by witnesses on both sides. However, she said, a visit to the house supported the accusers' version of events.
"We all had mixed feelings," she said, "but the facts were the facts."