120-day sentence: Former Alcoa coach pleads guilty to sex offenses
By J.J. Kindred | (jj.kindred@thedailytimes.com)
A former Alcoa High School teacher and softball coach was sentenced to four months in jail after pleading guilty to multiple sexual offenses involving former students.
Robert Paul Talley, 41, of Knoxville, pleaded guilty in Blount County Circuit Court Tuesday and was sentenced by Blount County Circuit Court Judge Tammy Harrington.
With his Knoxville-based attorney, Don Bosch, by his side, Talley pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, five counts of statutory rape by an authority figure and two counts of solicitation of a minor by an authority figure.
Under the plea agreement regarding the sexual battery and statutory rape charges, both Class C felonies, Talley was sentenced to four years, including 120 days in jail and the rest in a community corrections program, along with a fine of up to $10,000.
The solicitation of a minor charges carried a sentence of two years in jail to be served concurrently with the other charges.
Talley also agreed to have his teaching license revoked and will be placed on the permanent sex offender registry. He is not to have contact with any of the victims. He has until Jan. 15 to begin his jail time.
Blount County Assistant District Attorney Clinton Frazier said he consulted with the victims’ families, and they were satisfied with the sentence as Talley and Bosch arranged the plea deal. However, they acknowledged that would have liked to have seen Talley get more jail time.
Talley was given credit for time served from December 2011, when he was first arrested, to January 2012, and for 10 days he spent in jail in June 2012, when he violated an order of protection by trying to contact one of the victims.
Before he was released, Harrington ordered that Talley be placed under house arrest and wear a GPS monitoring bracelet. She also ordered psychological counseling and monitoring by correction employees.
He was indicted Dec. 5, 2011, by a Blount County grand jury with the nine sex-related charges involving juvenile girls, who were 13 and 17 at the time. The incidents allegedly occurred between 2010 and 2011.
If he had been convicted of all nine charges in the indictment, Talley could have been sentenced to at least 21 years and as many as 106 years.
Harrington warned Talley to not violate the terms of his sentence or he would be placed back into custody to serve his time in jail.
“Not only have you committed a criminal offense, what you have done is despicable,” Harrington told Talley after the plea agreement was read. “Do not come back to this court on a violation.”
