A former Cobb County “teacher of the year” serving a five-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting one of his students pleaded guilty to an additional charge in Cherokee County on Friday.
Spencer Herron, who worked as a video production teacher at Kell High School, pleaded guilty in January to sexually assaulting the student over multiple school years, starting when she was 16.
RELATED: Former Cobb teacher pleads guilty to sexually assaulting student
His latest conviction stems from a July 2016 incident in which he took the student to a Woodstock hotel for sex, the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.
He was sentenced to six years, with the first five behind bars, prosecutors said. That sentence will run concurrently with the five years in prison and 15 on probation that Herron is already serving for sexually assaulting the teen in Cobb, authorities said.
According to court records, the assaults began over summer break in 2016 when Herron was with the student several times "under the pretense of meeting for a non-existent school club."
The abuse continued through the end of 2017. Herron was arrested at his Acworth home the following June.
The student, who is in college now, filed a lawsuit this summer against three of her former administrators, alleging they failed to follow rules that would have protected her.
In a written statement, she said the lawsuit is important “to help make sure other girls are safe when they go to school.”
“I hope this shows other victims and their families that they can stand up for themselves, too,” she wrote. “I want girls to know that it is wrong for a trusted adult to abuse that trust to manipulate them into doing things they are not comfortable with. Victims should also not feel guilty or ashamed of themselves.”
In other news:
About the Author
