Ex-Willow Glen coach sentenced for child porn, racy student photos
SAN JOSE >> Over the the objections of the District Attorney’s Office and victims’ parents, a disgraced former teacher and cross-country coach at Willow Glen Middle School was sentenced Tuesday to eight months of home detention for collecting child porn and taking sexually provocative photos of his students.
Clifford Pappadakis, 47, of San Jose, was given three years probation starting with eight months of home confinement and presumed electronic monitoring. He will also have to register lifetime as a sex offender and pay restitution
“An actual custodial sentence in county jail would have been more suitable to hold him accountable for his actions.” — Michael Gilman, Deputy District Attorney
to some of the victims’ families.
Pappadakis pleaded no contest in August to a felony charge of possessing child pornography and seven misdemeanor charges of annoying or molesting a child.
The sentence assures that Pappadakis will have served virtually no jail time for his crimes; he has been free on supervised release since his Feb. 14 arrest.
In issuing the sentence, Judge Arthur Bocanegra pointed to the defendant accepting responsibility and showing remorse for his actions, and sparing the seven underage victims from having to testify at a trial. Bocanegra also noted that none of the crimes were violent offenses.
“What they suffered will be part of their lives forever,” Bocanegra said in acknowledging the victims’ suffering, before adding “this is an appropriate case for probation.”
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office advocated for a sentence of a year in jail given the nature of Pappadakis’ crimes and stressed that the sentence was not a negotiated plea because Pappadakis didn’t plea no contest on his own accord.
“An actual custodial sentence in county jail would have been more suitable to hold him accountable for his actions,” Deputy District Attorney Michael Gilman said. “This was not a victimless crime. He impacted these girls in a major way. It was important that some jail time was served.”
Defense attorney Steven Clark echoed the judge’s acknowledgement of his client’s contrition for the crimes.
“He expressed sincere remorse for his behavior and for the people involved in this matter,” Clark said. “And the court recognized the additional ancillary consequences, including losing a career.”
Parents of one of the victims spoke at the sentencing hearing, and sought to shame both Pappadakis for abusing his position of influence and authority over this students, and the court for what they asserted was a light penalty.
“How disappointing for these children who came forward to identify themselves in these photos, and filed complaints, having expectations for punishment,” said one victim’s mother, whose
name is being withheld to protect the privacy of the child. “These girls got to indirectly join the #MeToo movement. What a shame.”
That same victim’s father wondered aloud whether the sentence was tied to privilege, noting that Pappadakis had means for a high-level private attorney and stature in his community.
“It’s a financially biased system. He can afford to pay not to be in county jail. How nice for him,” he said.
“It seems patently unjust.”
Pappadakis, hired by the school in August 2006, worked as both a physical education teacher and coach for runners. The San Jose Unified School District said it received a parent complaint on Sept. 7, 2017 and put Pappadakis on paid leave the next day and unpaid leave Oct. 20. He was fired Dec. 31.
According to the police report, a parent reported that at a school swim practice Pappadakis was known to hold for his runners, she saw him “focus his camera on the back side of a sophomore girl who was wearing
a skimpy bikini.” The principal took Pappadakis’ school-issued laptop computer, which had a USB drive attached. Pappadakis reportedly “broke down” when confronted by the principal, and acknowledged that “there were pictures on there that he would not put on the school website” and said “this is my career.”
The report added that the principal performed a cursory examination of the coach’s computer and saw inappropriate images of school girls, though not nude photos. Investigators later examined the files and found numerous
crudely captioned images of adolescent and prepubescent girls in sexually suggestive poses.
In a bizarre coincidence, Pappadakis’ twin brother, Clinton, a longtime track coach at Oak Grove High School, was arrested a week after his brother, on suspicion of child-porn possession. Clinton Pappadakis’ purchase of a child-like sex doll, spurred an unrelated investigation into his activities. He is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 13 for a plea hearing.