Posted on 10/21/2009 9:42:33 AM PDT by Colofornian
AMERICAN FORK -- A teenage girl took the witness stand Tuesday against a former LDS seminary principal accused of having sex with her at the end of the last school year.
Michael Pratt, 37, faces 21 felonies relating to the alleged sexual relationship. He arrived in court Tuesday for his preliminary hearing, and the first witness was his alleged victim.
"It was pretty hard. I mean, I had a lot of support, and it was nice to be able to look at my family, but it was pretty hard facing him," the now 17-year-old girl told reporters following the hearing.
She spent three hours testifying against Pratt, who was the principal at the LDS seminary next to Lone Peak High School. The girl said what she thought was a friendship turned into a sexual relationship with Pratt during May and June of this year.
"It changed my life a lot. It's been really hard, but I think in the end it made me stronger and more aware and alert," she said.
On the witness stand, she described in detail how the relationship began and how it seemed to her, at the time, that she was in a romantic relationship.
The girl testified she first met Pratt in January, as she was transferring to a new seminary class, and the two began to talk frequently in his office.
She said Pratt summoned her out of class one day, and she then began going to his office instead of class each day. There, the two would talk about what she said was "life in general," calling him a good friend and someone she trusted.
The girl said the friendship continued until April 30, when she recorded, with her camera, Michael Pratt singing her a song in his office. She said he later told her he loved her.[CLICK HERE to read the lyrics of the song Pratt wrote]
She described having an anxiety attack over the weekend and going to the hospital, and that Pratt later visited her at her aunt's house that night. At one point, she said he called her on her cell phone and said he had a fantasy of the two together, which was sexually explicit.
A few days later, the relationship turned sexual in Vivian Park in Provo Canyon. There were five more similar encounters over the next month, some occurring during school time. The girl even testified that one of those encounters happened on the roof of the seminary building.
The girl testified Pratt would give her the keys to his car at the seminary parking lot. She would hide in the backseat, and he would get in a few minutes later. Then when they reached the nearby LDS temple, she could get in the front seat.
The girl also recorded when the encounters happened on her cell phone, referring to them such as "water fall" or "snuck out, bp," referring to Brother Pratt.
The relationship was reported to police in early July, and Pratt was arrested. Charges against him were enhanced because of his position of trust over the alleged victim.
"Where the person is a minor and the other person, the defendant, was in a position of special trust, and that was what much of the argument was about today," said Utah County prosecutor Julia Thomas.
Pratt's defense argues the charges are much more serious than what is warranted.
"Michael is of the opinion, we are of the opinion, that what happened, or allegedly happened, between those two people doesn't warrant five years to life in prison," said defense attorney Dusty Kawai.
As for the victim, she said she just wants to move on with her life.
"No matter what they say about me, it doesn't change the fact of what he did," she said.
Of the 21 charges originally filed against Pratt, the judge ordered he stand trial on 15 of them, including 14 first-degree felonies.
Pratt will be formally arraigned on the charges on Nov. 10, and then the judge will set a date for his trial. He faces up to life in prison if he is convicted.
What, the Fork?
The dude is wrong, but I don’t feel too sorry for the girl. The article makes it sound like she went into the relationship eyes wide open.
As the sexes of the parties have been reversed, there will be no requests made for pictures by which to judge the guilt or innocence of the accused teacher.
As the parties are not of the same sex nor in public school, the teacher will not be receiving a gold medal, a promotion, and a raise from his employer for promoting tolerance and diversity.
This disgusts me...my daughter was sexually harassed by a male principal at a public school, and they zero-toleranced her out and used the system to abuse me and my family. We won't see justice until Judgment Day.
That's where "being an adult" comes into the picture. Grown-ups are supposed to be able to recoggnize, think through, and avoid these situations in a way that a young girl is not able to do.
Brother Pratt failed to do that, and stole something from her in the process.
It sounds like she was willing; however, the adult in the scenario is ultimately responsible to ensure appropriate behavior.
His actions sound practiced and calculated. I wonder if she's just the most recent in a long line of "conquests."
The girl was 16 years old, probably with a head full of romantic thoughts. Like most teens, she probably didn't have any real sense of the consequences. That's what differentiates between "minors" and "adults." A starry-eyed teen can be talked into all sorts of stupid behavior.
It was Brother Pratt's responsibility to avoid this situation.
Michael Pratt. I wonder if he is related to Parley P.Pratt who was killed for stealing a wife of another man to take part in polygamy. If he is related, then he is kin to a certain Presidential hopeful too. ;)
Definitely not guilty.
Except that she was a minor. If she was underage, you can’t exactly use the “consent” alibi.
IMHO, depends on the age of the girl, I had a hard time pulling that out of the article.
15 or 16, throw the book at him. 17.......I'm not entirely sure. Civil consequences certainly - fire his butt, what he did was completely unethical!. But, Criminal Charges? The law is the law, but declining to prosecute might be potentially be in order.
Some time ago, during all of the Catholic priest scandals, I read an op-ed (wish I could remember by who). The guy was incensed that 17-year-old "boys" had been "taken advantage of" "against their will". His point was that he celebrated his 17th birthday as a Marine in a landing craft off Okinawa (apparently, he stretched the truth a bit with his recruiter....) and if anyone had tried to "take advantage of him against his will" they'd have been picking up their teeth off the floor.
His views roughly mirrored mine, in that the priests abused their position of power with the older boys, but indeed, it took two to tango.
I know that the law says "18", but at some point common sense needs to dictate actions. From this single article, I agree with you that it sounds like the girl knew exactly what she was doing.
Yeah but the judge is guilty as hell.
It’s a good thing she went to police. And thus she went “public”. If she had reported it to a school official chances are she would have been advised to seek counseling.
And, I believe the girl is old enough to marry in some states. But that does not excuse this guy’s behavior.
quite correct, and an argument we use when we insist that teenagers should need consent of parents for abortion.
Principals and teachers have to know — NO RELATIONSHIPS WITH STUDENTS.
You are the sunlight, I am the moon
Joined by the gods of fortune
Spin the wheel see what we'll beYou are the one who sees me
The one who believes in all I can be
Not just for now, but for eternity
And all the things I believe are here right now
And if you'll open up your heart, he'll show you howWe both know that I just won't ever deserve the girl I'm with
Sometimes it makes me sick of who I can beYou are the sunlight, I am the moon
Joined by the gods of fortune
Spin the wheel see what we'll be
He should get 10 extra years, just for that....
If only LDS seminary principals were allowed to marry, this never would have happened.
What ... married men don't write awful lyrics? OK, I admit that I don't write lyrics, awful or otherwise. But I thought that was just me....
Alternative Response:
If only LDS seminary principals were allowed to marry, and marry, and keep marrying until they were too tired to do anything at all, this never would have happened
I have posted the (almost) exact same response 3 times now today in different threads, with not a lot of vitriol coming back to me. I guess only the Catholics get it.
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