NEWARK, Ohio — A former Newark Catholic teacher was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to two counts of gross sexual imposition, according to the Newark Advocate.
According to Licking County Common Pleas Court records, four other counts of gross sexual imposition and a count of voyeurism were dismissed against 63-year-old Donald Schaefer in exchange for the guilty pleas, the paper reported.
Assistant Licking County Prosecutor Cliff Murphy said Schaefer had one victim at his Licking County home between September 2018 and June 2020. Murphy said Schaefer inappropriately touched the victim, who was born in 2001, multiple times even after he pushed Schaefer's hand away.
During another incident with a victim born in 1999, Murphy said Schaefer had the victim in a hot tub at his home where Schaefer inappropriately touched him despite the victim telling Schaefer to stop.
Schaefer agreed with the facts but said the timeline is incorrect and the individuals were not students at the time of the incidents.
Schaefer was sentenced to 28 months in prison, according to the newspaper. When he gets out of prison, he must register as a Tier I sex offender.
The Catholic Diocese of Columbus released a statement last year to 10TV at the time of Schaefer's indictment:
"Mr. Don Schaefer resigned from his position as a teacher at Newark Catholic High School in January, 2020. This followed an investigation by the Diocese of Columbus into complaints made against him about boundary violations and for reasons which include failure to abide by Diocesan safe environment policies."
A spokesperson for the Diocese sent another statement to 10TV on the same day:
"The Diocese’s investigation into the conduct of Mr. Schaefer in 2019 lasted several weeks and involved interviews of approximately a dozen individuals. While that comprehensive investigation did not uncover any criminal conduct, it did identify conduct that was in violation of the Diocese’s safe environment protocols. The results of the investigation were shared with the proper authorities. It is the Diocese’s understanding that the criminal charges that have just been filed are the result of new information that recently came to the attention of the authorities. Because the Diocese is not privy to all of that information, the Diocese does not believe it is proper for it to comment further on what was the basis for the criminal charges."
