April 11th, 2018 by WCBC Radio
On Tuesday, April 10, 2018, 52 year old Gary Herndon Athey II, of Frostburg, was sentenced for his February 2018 conviction of one count of fourth degree sex offense – sexual intercourse by a person in a position of authority. The Honorable W. Timothy Finan, Allegany County Administrative Judge of the Circuit Court, granted Athey’s request for probation before judgment and placed him on three years of supervised probation with specific conditions that he have no contact with the victim and complete 100 hours of community service.
The conviction stems from an investigation into allegations, first reported to the Allegany County Department of Social Services-Child Protective Services, that Athey, a teacher at Mountain Ridge High School, had engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with a 16 year old female student. A joint investigation was conducted by Child Protective Services and the Allegany County Combined Criminal Investigation Unit (C3I), with the assistance of the Allegany County Board of Education and the Allegany County State's Attorney's Office.
The victim in the case had consensual sexual contact with the defendant in the summer of 2017, when she was 16 years of age. The laws of the State of Maryland provide that a 16 year old can legally consent to sexual contact, with the exception of engaging in such activity with a person considered to be in position of authority over that individual, in this case a teacher. The crime which Athey was convicted of is a misdemeanor carrying with it a maximum penalty of one year incarceration and given Athey’s lack of criminal history provided sentencing guidelines of only probation for that offense. Additionally, the court heard testimony from the victim’s adult representative, as well as character witnesses presented by the defense.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Erich Bean. Athey was represented by attorney Ramon Rozas.
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