Ex-principal at Bon Air facility gets 4 years in sex case

The former high school principal at the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center will spend the next four years in prison for having a months-long sexual relationship with an underage female inmate in 2007.

After rejecting a defense motion to have some of Claude Andrew Harris' four convictions dismissed, Judge Frederick G. Rockwell III of Chesterfield County Circuit Court on Thursday imposed a jury's recommended sentence of four years incarceration and a $2,000 fine.

In April, the jury found Harris guilty of four counts of carnal knowledge of a minor, all felonies, for his 2007 relationship with the inmate, who was 17 at the time. The young woman is serving a 35-year prison term for stabbing her mother to death and then burying her in their backyard in May 2004.

Harris, 36, maintained his innocence during his two-day trial and did not acknowledge any guilt before being sentenced last week.

"He just asked for the court's leniency," said defense attorney Susan Parrish, who added that Harris plans to appeal.

Harris' wife testified that she suffers from health problems aggravated by stress and said the couple will lose their home without her husband's income. "Her salary is inadequate to make the bills," Parrish said. "They need both paychecks."

Harris worked as a car salesman after losing his position at the correctional center's Joseph T. Mastin High School. He has been jailed since his April conviction.

Parrish sought to have some of Harris' convictions thrown out because Parrish said the victim indicated at trial that at least some of the sexual activity occurred after she turned 18 and was of legal age.

But the judge reviewed the trial's transcript and determined there were at least four sexual acts between Harris and the victim before she turned 18 in 2007, Parrish said.

Parrish also submitted letters from several of Harris' supporters who vouched for his character.

"The judge had . . . read those before the hearing but he was not persuaded by any of it, and he followed the jury's [sentencing] recommendation," prosecutor B.J. McGee said.

The victim, now 19, testified at trial that her relationship with Harris -- a married father of two -- started after Valentine's Day 2007 when the two began to exchange letters. Initially, Harris would reply to the young woman's lengthy letters with very brief responses.

The relationship eventually grew physical, and the two engaged in sex in May and June in a classroom closet, evidence showed. The girl testified that they had sex at least twice more -- once after his birthday in July and again before he was reassigned to another location in August, McGee said.

The young woman's roommate testified that her friend had disclosed her first sexual encounter with Harris and displayed bruising to prove it.

McGee also introduced a charm pendant and two type-written love letters that authorities said Harris wrote to the young woman.

"I did not mean to fall for you but I did in a hard way," one of the letters reads. "Now I have to worry about you and me and how we are going to get through this because this is what I want. To be with you without anybody else judging us or looking at us would be awesome."

Both letters began with the salutation "Baby" and were signed, "Love ME."

Five years ago, the young woman, then 14, pleaded guilty in Wythe County to stabbing her 42-year-old mother in a fit of rage. During an argument that began over skipping school, the former Girl Scout picked up a hunting knife and stabbed her mother more than 43 times, leaving wounds that ran 6 inches deep.

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or .