The former Gilroy High School math teacher who pleaded no
contest to four counts of sex crimes with a minor half his age was
formally sentenced today to one year in county jail.
The former Gilroy High School math teacher who pleaded no contest to four counts of sex crimes with a minor half his age was formally sentenced today to one year in county jail.
The victim, a 14-year-old San Jose girl, and her family were not present at Alberto Gomez Vicuna Jr.’s sentencing, according to Deputy District Attorney Ray Mendoza.
In return for his plea, Vicuna, 33, did not receive the maximum penalty of 10 years in state prison. Instead, his sentence consists of a one-year stint in county jail followed by three years of probation and lifetime registration as a sex offender for crimes, Mendoza said.
In a May interview, Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr said the sentence was consistent with similar cases where the defendant lacks a prior record and enters an early plea, allowing attorneys to avoid a costly preliminary hearing and possible trial.
Vicuna was originally charged with nine counts of sex crimes – one count of a lewd or lascivious act on a child, two counts of oral copulation with a minor, three counts of sexual penetration of a person under the age of 16 and three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16. These charges were brought against him after police learned he had unprotected sex multiple times with the girl Feb. 19. However, the District Attorney’s Office dismissed five counts in exchange for Vicuna’s plea of no contest and because no other victims came forward.
“Initially we charged him with every conceivable count in case we found any other victims,” Mendoza said. “He had been on a Web site advertising himself as underage and looking for girls ages 14 to 17. We didn’t know if this would be one of these cases where we’d have a lot of victims.”
However, no other victims spoke up, Mendoza said.
