ROOSEVELT — A former boarding school nurse accused of sexually abusing students and handing out prescription drugs pleaded guilty to five of the charges leveled against him in 8th District Court Monday.
Geary David Oakes, 57, of Cedarview, Duchesne County, pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor — charges that were amended to second- and third-degree felonies in exchange for the guilty plea. He also pleaded guilty to an amended charge of one count of unlawful and unprofessional conduct, a class A misdemeanor.
He has also agreed to pay restitution to all of his victims.
Oakes had worked as the director of student services at Cedar Ridge Academy for 10 years when one student told a counselor about the abuse. An investigation into the case revealed Oakes sexually abused four teenage students and provided one of the alleged abuse victims and three other students with Lortab and Vicodin.
Investigators said Cedar Ridge, which describes itself as a "therapeutic boarding school," employed Oakes to serve as a go-between working with the school's students and a doctor who visits the facility once a week. But investigators say nothing in Oakes' job description, or his training as a certified nursing assistant, called for him to perform "hernia checks" on some of the school's male students as frequently as three times per month.
At one point, Oakes was facing as many as 15 different charges in seven separate cases. He was charged with six counts of forcible sexual abuse, six counts of distribution of a controlled substance, both second-degree felonies, two counts of forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony, and one count of dealing in materials harmful to a minor, a third-degree felony.
All of the remaining charges were dismissed Monday.
Oakes is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 5.
e-mail: emorgan@desnews.com