Former Tucker coach guilty of indecent liberties
RICHMOND, Va. -- J.R. Tucker High School's former football coach pleaded guilty yesterday to three counts of taking indecent liberties with two teenage students.
In a brief hearing in Henrico County Circuit Court, William Macgregor "Mac" Leighton, 31, acknowledged his guilt in months-long relationships with students 15 and 17.
A prosecutor said the relationships consisted of the students sending Leighton scores of nude images of themselves by cell phone and exchanges of graphic text messages.
In addition, according to Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Deana A. Malek, Leighton had intimate fondling sessions with the older student two times at his home in the late hours of March 7 and Feb. 7 of this year.
"Both girls are from very strong families and are doing well," Malek said after court. Neither victim appeared yesterday, but Malek did not rule out the possibility that an appearance or a written statement could occur when Leighton is sentenced Feb. 19.
He faces up to 15 years in prison, five years on each conviction. The relationships began in October last year and ended in April.
Malek said Leighton pleaded guilty with no promise of a sentencing recommendation.
Defense lawyer Craig Cooley told Judge L.A. Harris Jr. yesterday that he took issue with some characterizations of the evidence by Malek, but he said Leighton agrees that there is sufficient evidence for conviction on the charges to which Leighton pleaded guilty.
Malek said Leighton told both young women that he had separated from his wife, was lonely and loved them.
Leighton, Malek told the court, sometimes contacted the younger victim two and three times on weekends and at night. She would send him batches of nude images of herself every few months at his request, Malek said.
In April of this year, he offered to meet her after football practice to have sex on a pull-out couch inside Tucker's field house. She declined, Malek said.
The older student sent Leighton as many as 100 nude images of herself by cell phone, Malek said.
But the prosecutor said the students came to a point at which both feared that ending the relationship could jeopardize their grades; during one of the sessions at his home with the older student, Leighton threatened to "body slam her or kick her ass" if she revealed what was happening, Malek said.
Leighton spoke only in single-word replies yesterday to questions put to him by the court and a clerk. He has not been associated with the Henrico school system since his arrest in May; he had taught social studies and history.
Leighton remained free on $50,000 bond yesterday and was ordered not to associate with Tucker students.
Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or
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Reader Reactions
edrebber, I suspect they did not charge him with possession of child pornography, because if they did, they would probably have to charge the girls with manufacturing and distributing child pornography. He shoulde, and will likely do jail time. It will nor be enough, but he will get his. I believe the girls also should be charged with something.
Why isn’t this creature being charged with possession of child pornography? It should be a slam dunk conviction.
55, I am sorry if you may have been insulted by my earlier post, however, that does not change my opinion. It is improper behavior for anyone to send naked pictures of themselves to anyone, much less to their teachers. Those photographs are now “out there” and will NEVER go away. Sending these kind of photographs sends a message that the sender is “cheap”, or “easy” or a sl*t. I am calling it as I see it, and if the names of these girls are released, you will see that most, if not all, of the boys will believe that these girls are as I describe above. I refuse to believe these girls were threatened such that they had no choice but to send naked photographs of themselves. None of the above should be an excuse for this teachers actions, he is obviously a pig with little respect toward women. I hope these girls get the help they need, and I hope this teacher is brought to justice. I also hope that this incident sends a message out to parents to be careful of the tools they give their children, the internet and cell phones are not toys.
I was a student in his class and he would just say inappropriate things to me. When the rumors got around that he had been doing inappropriate things with other girls I then told my parents. I had only been given the inappropriate comments for about two weeks. The next day after my parents knew so did the the administrators. If I would have known about it sooner I would have told them.
55-I don’t think anyone here was trying to insult your friends. If I did, I sincerely apologize. You are right that none of us know what actually happened other than what we’ve read. This is a free country though(I think it still is anyway), and we are entitled to speculate what happened based on the information we’ve been given.
The point I was trying to make is that you girls who he allegedly “went after”, however minor it may have been, should have reported it to your administrators/parents/police immediately after these events took place. If that would have happened, there would not have been any threatening, nude photos, etc.
I really am sorry for what happened to you and your friends, and I hope that all of you are able to move forward from this. Hopefully this will raise awareness at local high schools that this type of thing is occuring and encourage more students to report inappropriate behavior by teachers.
Directed to all of you—
It is impossible for any of you to truely understand what HONESTLY happened unless you attend JR Tucker High School and you knew one of the victims or Coach Leighton. Coach Leighton was a very deranged man. He went after multiple teenage girls, not just the ones mentioned, and I happen to be one of them, just a minor case.
As someone who understands what these girls have been through and are now facing, I ask you to keep the rude comments to yourself. I’m insulted with just being a minor case that no one knows about, and I know one of the victims, MY FRIEND, is insulted too. Yes she sent the Coach inappropriate pictures, but she was threatened into it. Last time I checked that isn’t doing anything willingly.
All I’m saying is give the girls some slack. They’ve been through enough already.
Glen Allen, I agree with some of what you said, disagree with some, and can’t make sense of the rest. I personally think that rehab/counseling will do this guy a lot more good than being “put away for life”. He plead guilty to taking indecent liberties(does not have to involve physical contact according to VA law) with two teenage students…far from rape, carnal knowledge of a minor, sodomy, sexual assault, etc. He should be punished for the crimes he committed, but life in prison is a little extreme.
You yourself said that the girls were not angels. They voluntarily sent hundreds of nude photos to him! If they believed he was trying to take advantage of them or was threatening them with bad grades if they didn’t comply, they should have reported the situation to a principal on day one. There is nothing remotely innocent about high school girls anymore, especially ones who knowingly distribute child pornography to their teacher for 6 months.
It’s a bad situation that never would have happened if the “victims” would have reported him the second he crossed the line.
@2manydaystillfr As much as I hate to admit this there is probably alot of truth to this.
The sad thing here is it sounds like the only reason the girls turned this guy in was because of their grades and/or the fact he was “cheating” by using both of them and they found out about each other. Not because they considered what they were doing was wrong.
@Glen Allen: He plead “Guilty” and is now waiting to be sentenced. My “prediction” is this is all part of a plea bargain and he will get no jail time, community service and a mental health rehab order since he is a first time offender, the age of the victims, he plead guilty, did not make the victims testify and cooperated. We’ll see February 19th
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