KY school employee to be fired after pleading to sexual misconduct against student in 1990s
A Floyd County Schools employee who pleaded guilty Thursday to sexual misconduct against a student in the 1990s will be fired immediately, Interim Superintendent Larry Hammond said.
John Martin of Drift, a current employee and reportedly a former history teacher, has worked in an area where had no contact with students since he was charged with felony counts of first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy in March, Hammond told the Herald-Leader.
Online court records had not been updated Thursday afternoon.
However, WYMT-TV reported Martin pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in a plea deal, pleading guilty to sexual misconduct, and was sentenced to 12 months probation and 24 months of no contact with the victim or any minors. The victim is now an adult.
Online court records confirmed the crimes occurred in 1995. WYMT has reported the indictment said the offenses were committed between August 1995 and June 1997.
“If this would have happened today, you’d be looking at several years in the state penitentiary,” WYMT quoted Floyd Circuit Judge Johnny Ray Harris as telling Martin.
“Floyd County Schools is aware that a guilty plea has been entered in a court case on behalf of a current (Floyd County Schools) employee,” Hammond said in a news release Thursday. “Since criminal charges were first filed, the employee has worked in an area where he had no contact with students. Student safety is our number one priority.”
“In all matters concerning the court’s determinations, (the district) will fully comply with the mandated court orders once we have received finalization from the court. His employment with Floyd County Schools will be terminated immediately,” Hammond said.
Hammond told the Herald-Leader Thursday that although Martin “has pled guilty to some reduced charges, we do not have any finalization from in the court. He will be terminated. “
The Herald-Leader does not identify victims of sexual abuse without their permission. The victim, who WYMT said made a victim impact statement during Thursday’s sentencing, did not immediately respond to the Herald-Leader’s messages Thursday.
WYMT identified the victim and quoted her as saying she was a 17-year-old student at Garth Vocational High School -- now known as Floyd County Area Technology Center — when Martin abused her.
The TV station reported the victim told the court she endured years of abuse at the hands of Martin.
“I did not have a normal childhood. I was being raped and sodomized for two years, in the classroom, during school, with the lights out,” WYMT quoted her as saying.
”Mr. Martin was my history teacher for two years. He changed my life forever. He altered my whole personality; my whole who I am.”
The TV station said the victim elaborated: “Martin, over the course of those years, asked for ‘special hugs’ forced her to perform oral sex on him ‘almost every day,’ ‘took her virginity’ and filmed the act to use as blackmail.”
She added Martin “would go on to sodomize her for years and share desires to do the same to other students,” WYMT reported.
.“Now, I will live the rest of my life with the psychiatric issues of rape and sodomy that came from a person of trust and power.”
She added: “You stole my self esteem and you destroyed it. So, here I am, years later, broken, trying to rebuild what you took from me and just to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. I felt so small and so dirty when you raped me and I’m still trying to clean the garbage off of me that you put on me.”
The victim said she was told following mediation that she “had to agree” to amended charges or the case “would be dismissed,” WYMT reported.
WYMT reported Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney, Melissa Goodman said the laws are different now, so the misdemeanor charge was brought to the table with the age of the events in mind, because the commonwealth would not be able to prove the forcible compulsion element of the original charges or rape and sodomy in a trial setting.
A Lexington Herald-Leader’s September 2022 investigation highlighted just how significant the problem of teacher sexual misconduct is in Kentucky.
The newspaper obtained 194 cases of teachers who voluntarily surrendered or had their license revoked or suspended from 2016 to 2021. Of those, 118 — 61% — lost their license due to sexual misconduct.
The overwhelming majority of those cases involved male teachers and teenage girls.
Bill failed
A bill that would require more disclosure of teacher sexual misconduct, ban non-disclosure agreements and require teachers to tell prospective employees about prior investigations of misconduct failed to pass the 2024 Kentucky General Assembly despite strong support.
House Bill 275 passed unanimously in the Senate March 27. It had passed unanimously in the House in February.
The Senate made some tweaks and changes to the bill. The House never concurred or addressed the changes on the last day of the legislative session.
This year marked the second year the bill, despite not receiving any “no” votes, failed to pass the Kentucky General Assembly.
The bill would have required schools to complete investigations into teacher sexual misconduct. Sometimes teachers resign before an investigation is completed, and the school district does not know the teacher has been under investigation.
