Ex-APS teacher gets probation in plea deal
Number of child sex abuse charges involving a female relative dropped
A former middle school teacher received 4½ years of probation as part of a plea agreement that dropped a number of child sex abuse charges involving a female relative.
Kenneth Jehle pleaded no contest to three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 2nd Judicial District Court on Friday.
Seven other charges were dismissed, including criminal sexual contact with a minor, manufacturing or possessing child pornography and child abuse.
The complaint alleged that Jehle started masturbating in front of the girl when she was 12 and groomed her for abuse over three years.
Under the terms of the agreement, Jehle will be allowed to serve probation in Michigan, where he has been living. He did not comment during the proceedings before Judge Cindy Leos.
A statement from the female relative, read in court, said Jehle “knows what he did” and she continues to have nightmares about it.
The girl’s mother told the Journal that she is disappointed in the court system.
“They did not take into consideration my daughter’s well-being throughout the process. The focus should have always been my daughter,” she said.
“They really left her high and dry.”
In August, a Bernalillo County jury found Jehle not guilty in a separate case alleging he inappropriately touched a teen special education student three times in the spring of 2014.
The student’s family sued Albuquerque Public Schools and received a $750,000 settlement in 2015.
Jehle was also the subject of two sexual harassment lawsuits filed by former co-workers over a decade ago.
In 2003, two Harrison Middle School employees — a music teacher and a secretary — complained that he pressed them for dates, leered and made inappropriate comments. Both women received settlements.
Jehle does not have a New Mexico teaching license, according to the Public Education Department’s online data base.