A former Helix High School teacher who admitted having sex with a student was sentenced to a year in jail yesterday and placed on probation for three years by a judge who told him, “You violated your oath as a teacher.”
Garry Lin Wilcox will serve his jail term in a work-furlough program where he's allowed to leave for work but must return every night to a locked-down facility, Judge Patricia K. Cookson said.
Wilcox, 44, also must pay for psychological counseling for the girl, who was 17 years old at the time, and for her family.
“I'm deeply sorry,” Wilcox told the judge in El Cajon Superior Court. “I understand the consequences.”
A geography teacher and soccer coach at the school since 1995, Wilcox pleaded guilty in July to one count of having unlawful sex with a minor.
Wilcox admitted having sex with the girl once in a Mission Valley motel, but the girl told investigators that she had sex with him 100 times, sometimes on school grounds, Cookson said.
Deputy District Attorney John Philpott said Wilcox had “an ongoing relationship” with the student from June 2006 into 2007.
The girl's father said in court that the affair has been devastating to his family. “He cheated his wife, he cheated my daughter, he cheated the (school) system,” the father said.
Wilcox's lawyer, Robert Grimes, asked the judge to go easy on Wilcox because he has lost his career as a teacher.
“He is trying to reinvent his life,” Grimes said.
Philpott said the jail term for Wilcox should be a warning to other teachers to avoid inappropriate relationships with their students.
“I don't know if it's a matter of people getting caught more or people doing it more, but there's been a lot of it lately,” Philpott said.
Since December 2006, four former Helix High School teachers have been charged with having sex with students. In April, a former West Hills High School teacher was sentenced to 180 days in jail for having sex with a student.
An ethics consultant met with about 40 parents at Helix High School yesterday to talk about teacher sexual misconduct and learn more about training programs and written policies being created to stop it.
Staff writer Leonel Sanchez contributed to this report
Ray Huard: (619) 593-4953; ray.huard@uniontrib.com
