May 25, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
MCDUFFIE COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW) -- A former JROTC instructor at Harlem High School has been sentenced for his role in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student.
Lt. Col. Mitchell Sivas invoked the Alford plea on Thursday and was sentenced to four years of probation and issued a $2,000 fine for sexual assault by a person with disciplinary authority. Sivas also has to submit to the conditions of a convicted sex offender.
Sivas resigned from the school in March after investigators found the girl at his home in Thomson. He told Harlem High School Principal Dietmar Perez that "he made a terrible mistake and was resigning."
According to the report filed by the school, the teen admitted to having a sexual relationship with him.
Investigators say the student was at the teacher's home on multiple occasions over a six-month period.
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