A former elementary school teacher in Mesa has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the attempted molestation of a child.
Maricopa County prosecutors say 49-year-old Michael LaMonica also was sentenced Friday to lifetime supervised probation with sex offender terms.
LaMonica was a music teacher at Brinton Elementary School before he was arrested in March on molestation allegations.
Police say a girl claimed LaMonica molested her twice in 2005 when she was 7. She told police that LaMonica allegedly took off her clothes and molested her after asking her to help him clean the band room.
LaMonica pleaded guilty in June to four counts of attempted child molestation as part of a plea deal.
The Mesa Public School Board is conducting its own investigation on the allegations against LaMonica.
arthursmail posted at 3:41 pm on Fri, Jul 29, 2011.
plea deal, gee here is how that works, uh we really dont have enough evidence to convict you, but the DA can probably pursuade the jurors into making them think your guolty so we can make a deal if you admit to this crime we will give you a lesser sentence, thousands of innocent people go to jail every year because of plea deals, and we all know little kids dont lie right?