A former Central Florida high school teacher was sentenced to prison.
The former teacher and soccer coach at Lake Mary High School in in Seminole County in Central Florida was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison.
57-year-old Richard C. Colon was adjudicated guilty of three counts of sexual battery on a child by a person in custodial authority and one count of possession of material depicting sexual conduct by a child.
He was sentenced for carrying on a sexual relationship with a student.
At Richard Colon’s sentencing hearing, Assistant State Attorney Anna Valentini presented evidence that Colon’s relationship with the girl started in 2022 when he was her teacher. He later became her confidante. It advanced to sexually charged messages and photos they exchanged over Snapchat. Within months, the relationship progressed to sex acts at Colon’s home and his classroom during a school period when she didn’t have class and he had no students.
“It wasn’t ‘mutual’ because there was a built-in power dynamic – he was a 56-year-old teacher and coach at her school,” Valentini said. “We trust our children with teachers. This is the ultimate abuse of that trust in the teaching profession.”
From the witness stand, Colon apologized to the girl, her parents, his family, his former colleagues at Lake Mary High, and the community at large. He said he regretted “giving in and not saying no.”
Colon’s defense attorney asked Circuit Judge Michael Rudisill to sentence Colon to seven years in state prison followed by sex offender probation, a departure from state sentencing guidelines. But Valentini argued successfully for adhering to guidelines that called for 326 months in prison. In Florida, sexual battery on a child is punishable by up to life in prison.
Rudisill noted that Colon’s relationship with the student was more than “a one-time thing. “It started when the girl was an attention-seeking 15-year-old and continued for about two years. “It is fundamental to being a teacher,” Rudisill said. “You do not have sexual contact with the students.”
