Wesley Patrick Richard, 23, is being held on $50,000 bail on a charge of first degree sexual abuse of a minor, an unclassified felony.
DILLINGHAM: Dillingham police officers arrested Wesley P. Richard, 23, Monday, after an investigation conducted with the Office of Children’s Services concluded Richard had engaged in sexual relations with a 15-year old female student.
The sexual contact is alleged to have happened on October 4th at the home of the victim’s grandmother, not on school property.
Richard is in custody at the Dillingham jail, held on $50,000 bail pending an arraignment Tuesday.
On October 10th, OCS asked the Dillingham police department to investigate allegations that had surfaced concerning a substitute teacher and a 15-year old student.
In interviews with police, the victim initially denied that the two had been together. After police showed the victim facebook messages she had sent to friends discussing the incident, she admitted that she and Richard had engaged in sexual contact.
The police monitored a phone conversation between Richard and the victim’s father, and a later conversation that took place in-person between the two, in which he admitted to some sexual activity but insisted that the victim’s clothes had never been removed.
The police interviewed several students at Dillingham High School last Friday, and placed Richard under arrest Monday morning.
Richard has been on paid administrative leave since October 10th, the day OCS notified the police of the allegations.
Richard graduated from Dillingham High School in 2008, and was an Alaska state wrestling champion in 2006 and 2007. He was named DHS Athlete of the Year in 2008, and wrestled at the University of Minnesota for four years before graduating this past spring.
He was hired as an assistant wrestling coach and substitute teacher at Dillingham High School at the start of the 2013 fall semester. Richard submitted a standard background check with his application for employment with the district. He had "subbed" nine times this school year, including in several of the victim’s classes prior to the October 4th incident.
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