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A married couple in Orange County, both of them teachers, or former teachers, have been sentenced on Thursday at the Los Angeles Superior Court for having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male student, for months, both individually, and as a couple. Gail Davidson-Shepard, a former teacher at the Mesa View Middle School in Huntington Beach and her husband Daniel Shepard, a teacher at Westminster High School, were allowed to be convicted of three felony counts each of unlawful sexual intercourse, sodomy with a person under 18 years, and oral copulation with a minor.
They were also convicted of one misdemeanor count each for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and a violation of a protective order. Since the Shepards had already pleaded guilty to the offences, they were sentenced to formal probation, while jail time was stayed. They will also have to complete counseling and community service.
According to the prosecutors, the couple had begun preparing the adolescent in March 2009, by inviting him to their home for get-togethers. They had food, alcohol, board games and movies. The couple first assaulted the boy sexually in April, when they asked him to enter the hot tub with them and bath together. The boy reported his abuse to his mother in March 2011 after turning 18. The mother reported the matter to the police. According to the boy, Daniel Shepard sexually assaulted him through September 2009, while his wife Gail, a union leader, kept at it through December.
The prosecutors say, though the weekly get-togethers continued for months, there can be no charges over what happened after the boy turned 18.
