Judge: Teacher guilty in sexual relation with student

A verdict in a case involving a former charter school teacher and a 17-year-old female student.

From Carl Hessler Jr. in today's edition of The Pottstown Mercury:

A judge has determined that a former Phoenixville charter school teacher intended to corrupt the morals of a 17-year-old girl when he had an intimate relationship with her but that his conduct did not place the girl in danger.

Timothy Hammond, 33, of the 200 block of South Cedar Street, Spring City, was convicted Monday in Montgomery County Court of two misdemeanor counts of corruption of a minor but was acquitted of a more serious felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with incidents that occurred with the girl between September 2007 and August 2008 while he was a teacher at the Renaissance Academy.

Hammond showed no emotion as Judge Thomas P. Rogers announced the verdict. The judge determined the verdict based on testimony he heard during a two-day, non-jury trial earlier this month.

Hammond faces a possible maximum sentence of 5- to-10-years in prison on the child corruption charges. However, state sentencing guidelines also would allow for a minimum sentence between probation and several months in jail.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.