Posted on 06/10/2009 7:06:05 AM PDT by colorcountry
FILLMORE -- A former mayor, LDS bishop and high school teacher in Fillmore has been arrested on charges of having sex with a 17-year-old girl. Keith Gillins was booked into jail Monday night after the student came forward with the allegations.
News of the arrest comes after weeks of rumors in Fillmore. Still, it is shocking for residents of the small town to hear that the well-known 61-year-old coach, teacher, religious leader and former mayor of the city was arrested.
"He is well-known. He's done a lot of good. He's a good man, and it is upsetting to the community and the parents and the students and everybody. It's upsetting to everybody," said Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker.
Charging documents state the crimes occurred in November of last year, but investigators are looking at the possibility of other encounters.
"The case is still being investigated. There are other people who need to be interviewed. The investigation needs to go much further, we just felt like this was the time that we needed to bring him into custody and let it go from there," Dekker said.
It was a relationship that police say was cultivated through the exchange of text messages. A high school student who didn't want to be identified told KSL the teacher and student frequently flirted at school.
"She would kind of always go in his room. He never let anyone go in his back room, but he would always let her. So, I don't know, like you could kind of tell. But it was surprising, just because he was a teacher and, you know?" the student said.
Gillins faces two third-degree felonies of unlawful sexual conduct with a 17-year-old. He posted bail Tuesday afternoon and was released from jail. He is scheduled to face the charges in court Wednesday morning.
Years ago, girls dressed more modestly.
Nowadays the hooker look is popular.
And boundaries of behavior have blurred. Even girls in high school don’t see it as wrong to be involved with older men outside marriage. So things will happen when there are no standards that everyone observes.
An LDS bishop? Maybe they had been “sealed.”
Perhaps he found a future wife for the kingdom to come.
If a girl came to class stark nekkid, would that be an excuse?
I think you and I both recognize that temptation isn’t an excuse.
POTUS in training? Did this student actually say anything?
On a thread similar to this, quite some time ago, someone commented that a friend of his was a teacher who had given a female student the bad grade she deserved, and shortly after, she was caught in the act of planting a pair of her panties in his car.
I take anything I hear about teachers with a grain of salt.
i think kids today are capable of pulling just about any kind of nastiness imaginable. and i think male teachers can easily get a bum rap pinned on them that could ruin their lives. But i do think there are plenty of horndog teachers incapable of controlling themselves when a willing girlie throws herself at them, too. apparently there is a spate of horndog women teachers incapable of same.
When a teenage boy is seduced by an older woman, it’s wrong, but it’s funny, too. Boys are built to take that kind of emotional hit and keep functioning.
But there’s nothing funny about a man my age preying on a teenage girl. Girls are psychologically vulnerable at that age, and can suffer permanent damage.
I had a 15-year-old cousin who was seduced by a teacher many years ago...he had to stand before the mormon congregation and confess but was never legally charged with anything, and then he married the teenager.
Now that I think about it, WHY was he not charged with statuatory rape? Small town, I guess.
When I was a Utah teen, the age of consent was 13. No statutory rape for a 15 year old in those days, (if I recall correctly).
How convenient that a state full of mainstream Mormons has catered to polygamizing young girls for so long.
So, so, so very GUILTY.
IIRC, the age of consent was 16 in CO.
Agreed.
I just hesitate to judge without a conviction. Arresting someone for something does not carry the same weight as a guilty verdict by trial.
Then you’re right, it was probably either good-ole-boy syndrome, or polygamy syndrome. Very common in small towns in these parts.
guilty til proven innocent only applies to the courtroom, not the court of public opinion. the police referenced text msgs so i am thinking they have some substantial probable cause to have arrested him.
Why, he had all the proper credentials to convince the poor girl. Imagine how her innocent flirting suddenly became serious business with that weird bastard. God, that makes me sick!
But...
What about all the PRESBYTERIANs who do it, too???
—NotOMM
I’ve known a few horn dogs in my day. Can’t say there were any
Presbyterian ministers among them and none of them were out doing little girls.
Now David Letterman is another case. What a piece of dung he is. He too would, in my opinion, be right there with Mr. Millard High School doing as many little girls as he could find. A real POS indeed!
OMM can’t even begin to hold a candle with the likes of these no matter how cute the “little darlin’” is. (Just heard that song on the oldies station here in SU. Playing “Blue Velvet” right now.)
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