Ex-teacher sentenced in sex case
Farrell gets almost 3 years for assaulting 15-year-old student
A former Palo Alto High School biology teacher has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for assaulting a 15-year-old student inside his classroom in June 2016.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Vincent Chiarello also placed Ronnie Farrell on parole for three years after release from state prison and ordered him to register as a sex offender for life.
Farrell faced nine felony charges, including six counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor and three counts of sexual battery resulting from two separate assaults on the victim.
In January, Farrell, 47, pleaded no contest to four counts of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child age 14 or 15 and one count of sexual battery. He also resigned from the Palo Alto Unified School District that month.
The plea meant that Farrell could have been sentenced to a minimum of probation or a maximum of five years in state prison.
According to court documents, the victim told police she respected Farrell and “placed a great deal of trust in him.” She said he helped her during the school year when she felt nervous and out of place.
Things changed on June 3, however, the day after the 2015-16 school year ended.
The student went to campus to pick up an art project and stopped to help clean Farrell’s classroom, a task she had done for other school staff.
“Defendant surprised (the victim) by telling her how ‘scary’ he could become and that he would prove it to her,” according to court documents. “Defendant than abruptly grabbed her, pulled her by her arms and hugged her for 10 to 15 seconds.”
The student returned to campus on June 7 to meet with her counselors. Farrell messaged her on Facebook and asked her to come to his classroom.
In the classroom, the teacher placed his hands under the student’s clothes and touched her breasts. He also massaged her leg and placed her hands on his groin, though she said several times “No!” and “No, I will not do that.”
Farrell told the student not to tell anyone and to erase his Facebook messages.
The student told her family members about the sexual assault a week later and the incident was reported to police June 13.
Police asked the student to share her Facebook messages. Though she had erased messages prior to June 7, she had multiple new Facebook conversations with Farrell, sometimes for hours at a time or throughout the day, a police report shows.
For instance, about 7:30 p.m. on June 7, the student told Farrell she was going to leave home to buy a Pepsi before it gets dark.
Farrell inquired several times about where she lives, stating “Trying to think what side of town you live on and where you would get Pepsi” and “What side of town do you live on?” The student dodged the question by saying “Alaska” and then “Up, Sideways, Diagonally, I live on My side of town.”
On June 9, the student told Farrell she wanted to go buy a Pepsi but she had to watch her brother.
“Well, I can’t terrify you while he’s there so it looks like you’ll get Pepsi in safety today,” Farrell responded.
Palo Alto police arranged a pretext phone call between the student and Farrell on June 15. During that call, Farrell talked about how hard he tried to resist her throughout the school year. He also apologized and asked her to forgive him and not tell anyone about what happened.
Farrell told the student she didn’t have to be scared of him and that he made a terrible mistake. He said his actions resulted “out of stupidity and exhaustion.”
When the student explained she was not sure whether she could forgive him, Farrell responded by telling her, “I will quit my job. I just need you to understand it will end my life. And I just ask you to please think of the person that was with you the entire year, not the stupid person that made a mistake at the end of the year over five minutes.”