A one-time Douglas area teacher of the year was sentenced Tuesday to 14 years in prison in a child molestation case that was first reported to police in 2016.
Jesus Armenta sat quietly next to his attorney during the hearing as various persons argued whether he should serve the minimum of 10 years, the maximum of 14, or somewhere in between after he pleaded no contest back in February to attempted continuous sexual abuse of a child as well as knowingly attempting to commit child molestation of another child.
Prosecutor Michael Powell argued “nothing but the max” was appropriate, although the ultimate decision was up to Judge Joel Larson of the Cochise County Superior Court.
Larson had conducted a lengthy presentencing hearing last month at which time parents and others representing several children who reported being molested by Armenta complained of the sentence range maxing out at 14 years.
It was a theme which continued Tuesday, with one of the victims telling the judge by phone that 14 years “will never be enough for all the kids combined.” The girl also told of her concern throughout the years that Armenta was continuing to molest children while out of custody awaiting resolution of the case.
Armenta choose not to make a statement to Larson prior to announcement of the sentence. However, there were some tense moments when it appeared Armenta’s plea deal might be voided and the case set for trial.
Defense attorney Rafael Malanga told Larson that the Arizona Legislature has stripped judges of their discretion by passing laws which require lengthy mandatory sentencing ranges for sex crimes involving victims under age 14. As a result, Malanga said, Armenta only entered the two no contest pleas to avoid the likelihood of spending the rest of his life in prison if convicted at trial.
Malanga also renewed his complaints of perceived shortcomings with the police investigation and the forensic interviews of the children. And he suggested, not for the first time in recent months, that the children’s statements about abuse were inaccurate, although he specifically said no one was calling the children liars.
“He was teacher of the year,” Malanga said of Armenta. “The kids seemed to love him.”
Larson moved forth with sentencing after confirming that Armenta was not asserting actual or legal innocence as part of the plea deal, something which requires a special process.
Armenta’s use of his position of trust to facilitate the sexual abuse as well as the ongoing emotional harm to victim warranted the longest possible sentence of 14 years, Larson ruled.
Once out of prison, Armenta must register as a sex offender wherever he lives. He must also serve lifetime probation which will require sex offender counseling and assessment.
Armenta worked for the Douglas Unified School District as a substitute teacher before being hired fulltime in 2014. The first complaint of sexual misconduct was reported to the Douglas Police Department in 2016 and Armenta resigned the next year.
The investigation developed additional children from Armenta’s classes as possible victims. Some of the named victims were never in Armenta’s class but had him as a coach in a youth soccer league.
A Cochise County grand jury indicted Armenta in 2018 and then again in 2021 as the police investigation continued.
On Tuesday, Armenta was handcuffed by court security to await transfer to the county jail where he will be held for a few days until transported to the Arizona Department of Correction.
Powell, the prosecutor, acknowledged the outcome was something the victims and their families wanted to see happen much sooner.
“The wheels of justice sometimes turn very slowly,” told Arizona Daily Independent after the sentencing. “That happened in this case, much to the justified frustration of the victims. But in the end, the families get to finally have a degree of closure and I appreciate that the judge paid close attention to the facts of the case and determined that an aggravated prison term was warranted.”
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