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News Briefs
Teacher, coach arrested for sex with a minor
David Edward Garner, 34, a teacher at Peterson Middle School in Sunnyvale and a volunteer youth sports coach with the city of Sunnyvale, was arrested April 12 for having a consensual sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl who had been one of his students.
According to San Jose Police Department spokesman Rubens Dalaison, the relationship took place more than three years ago when the victim, now 21, was 17 years old. The contact lasted three months and occurred four years after the victim left Peterson.
Sunnyvale police were notified about the allegations on March 19, when an anonymous caller phoned Peterson Middle School. The school notified the Sunnyvale Public Safety Department, which on March 24 passed the information on to the San Jose Police Department Sexual Assault Unit. The Sunnyvale Public Safety Department would not comment on the case, forwarding all questions to the SJPD. San Jose detectives took 20 days to gather enough information to warrant an arrest.
"They had to do interviews and investigate the allegations," said spokesman Dalaison. "That's why there was the time lapse."
Garner willingly surrendered to police and was released after posting $100,000 bail.
Joe Kornder, associate superintendent of the Santa Clara Unified School District, said the school acted as soon it could. "We acted immediately when we were informed that there were charges, and there was an arrest. We could not have acted sooner," Kornder said.
Garner, a social studies teacher, has been placed on a mandatory leave of absence and will not be permitted to return to the school unless he is acquitted. Peterson is on its spring break until April 19. Because Kornder just found out about the arrest, he had not yet notified any students, teachers or parents.
Garner also voluteered for six or seven years as a coach for the city of Sunnyvale's Youth Basketball League, which is open to both boys and girls from first to eighth grades, according to city spokesman Dave Vossbrink.
Vossbrink said Garner would be suspended as a volunteer pending the outcome of the case.
Kornder said the school district is not aware of any other victims and that Garner, who had taught at the district for a number of years, had no prior record of wrongdoing.
"Obviously it's a very sad situation for all involved," Kornder said.
--Maggie Benson and Cecily Barnes
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
