duncan

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Former St. Clairsville school district teacher and coach Rachel Duncan was sentenced to one and a half years in prison Tuesday, after having pleaded guilty to nine counts of gross sexual imposition, a felony of the fourth degree. She was also designated a Tier 1 sex offender.

Duncan, 35, of 109 Park St., St. Clairsville, originally was charged with nine counts of sexual battery, but she pleaded guilty to amended charges. According to the Belmont County Prosecutor’s Office, the criminal conduct took place from January 2014 through May 2016. The victim was a player on the high school softball team Duncan coached, and would have been a juvenile part of that time.

However, Prosecutor Dan Fry has said the victim’s age makes no difference in this case, since Duncan was a person in a position of trust. The statute under which Duncan is charged covers issues in which the accused is a teacher, school administrator, coach or otherwise in authority

After hearing a joint recommendation from the state and defense, Belmont County Common Pleas Judge Frank Fregiato moved to run the sentences concurrently, for a total of 1.5 years.

Mark Kepple, a lawyer and spokesman for the victim’s family, gave a statement on their behalf, saying that while the family is in agreement with the recommendation of concurrent sentences, they asked the the court do all within its power to impose a high penalty.

“Rachel Duncan was a coach. She was a teacher in the St. Clairsville school and she abused that authority and corrupted the victim, damaged her sense of self-worth, her identity. She caused a myriad of emotional and psychological issues,” he said. “This is a teacher who betrayed her trusted role.”

Duncan’s attorney asked Fregiato to consider Duncan’s lack of a prior record and her cooperation, as well as the loss of her teaching career.

Duncan apologized for her actions and the impact of those actions on all concerned.

“I would like to express my sincere apologies to my student and her family, my school district who let me live my dream, my family and all the people I have betrayed, including this community,” she said. “I can promise you that I will never be in a position such as this ever again, as long as I live.”

Fregiato acknowledged the numerous letters he received on Duncan’s behalf.

“A lot of the letters spend a great deal of time talking about what a great teacher and great coach defendant Duncan is or was. That’s not the issue in this case,” Fregiato said, pointing out that Duncan and has been convicted of the nine felonies. “As I was reading all these letters … I couldn’t help but reflect upon the thought: I wonder if these individual authors would feel the same way if their daughter or their son had been the victim of these crimes.”

He also referred to sections of the victim’s statement:

“‘The trauma and sexual abuse I experience throughout my entire high school career … The coaching I received during high school was manipulative, demanding and ultimately abusive. She sexually abused me; sexual advances and attacks increased over time. To this day I have flashbacks and nightmares about this. I have not slept well in over three years … Coach Duncan told me I could not tell, or she would kill herself. She lied to everyone and constantly told me how much she loved me and wrote cards to me. The sexual abuse was relentless and confusing.'”

Fregiato then read sections of the victim’s mother’s statement:

“Rachel Duncan stalked my daughter. Groomed her from a time before my daughter went through puberty, told her that she would kill herself if found out and otherwise controlled her by constantly demanding her attention. There were over 10,000 text messages between the two of them. This was not a relationship, but sexual grooming.'”

Fregiato took note of the seriousness of this case when addressing Duncan.

“Belmont County, Ohio has indeed fantastic school teachers. Ma’am, you have wrongly and unfairly cast doubt on their trustworthiness and have wrongly and unfairly tarnished their reputations. You have also destroyed the tremendous trust that had been bestowed upon you. You were to educate and protect our children, not to have sex with them. This event was not an isolated event,” Fregiato said. “The manipulation went on for years. It was a developed plan with thousands, and thousands and thousands of text messages. This was not a casual contact or a voluntary relationship.”

Afterward, Kepple voiced the family’s hope that events such as this will encourage other young people who may be in similar situations to come forward and report abuse.