Crime

John Loyd, a Hollister resident and fifth-grade teacher at Paradise Valley Elementary School in Morgan Hill, agreed to serve up to 40 years in state prison after admitting to inappropriate contact with four young female students at the Morgan Hill courthouse Monday.

Loyd pleaded guilty to four counts of lewd and lascivious acts toward a child. He has agreed to a prison sentence of 40 years, instead of choosing to go forward with a trial and facing the maximum possibility of a life term that the charges would allow, attorneys at the hearing said.

Loyd, 53, will be sentenced at the Morgan Hill courthouse Sept. 21.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Tim McInerny said the negotiated sentence is “fair, it protects the community and it accurately reflects his conduct.”

Loyd was a teacher at the LaCrosse Drive school in southwest Morgan Hill at the time of his arrest October 2014, shortly after the first victim—one of his students—reported to her parents and police that he made inappropriate contact with her in the classroom.

After his arrest, more victims came forward and alerted authorities to similar contact Loyd had made with them. McInerny said all four victims listed in the charges to which Loyd pleaded guilty were “approximately fifth grade age,” or about 10 to 12, when the inappropriate contact occurred.

The incidents took place on four separate occasions from late 2012 to October 2014, according to court documents.

“The victims’ families are relieved” at Loyd’s plea and sentence, McInerney added. A trial, he said, would have likely required the victims to testify, adding further trauma to the abuse they have already suffered.

Loyd’s case is subject to the state’s “sexually violent predator” laws, which require suspects deemed dangerous enough to serve at least 85 percent of their court-mandated sentences, McInerny explained. That means Loyd will be about 87 years old before he is eligible for release, and the court will then determine if he remains a danger to society.

“We believe, at that time, he will no longer be a threat to children,” McInerny said.

Loyd’s attorney, Lawrence Biegel, said that Loyd agreed to the 40-year sentence in order to “take responsibility” for his crimes, and to avoid the certainty of spending the rest of his life in prison.

“Contrary to a lot of people, Mr. Loyd has taken responsibility for what he has done,” said Biegel, who anticipates Loyd will make a statement at the sentencing hearing. “He wants the victims to understand they did nothing wrong at all.”

Biegel added during the Aug. 3 hearing that the Sept. 21 proceeding will be an “opportunity to make amends” with the victims and their families.

Loyd has taught fifth grade at Paradise Valley Elementary—where he was also an advisor for the student newspaper program—since 2008, according to authorities. He has taught in the Morgan Hill Unified School District since 2000, and previously taught at Nordstrom Elementary before being transferred to Paradise Valley.

He has been in custody at Santa Clara County Jail and on administrative leave from MHUSD since his October arrest, according to authorities.

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