Deal will keep former coach and teacher out of state prison
San Martin – Former Sobrato football coach and math teacher Jeff J. Patterson pleaded no contest Thursday in a deal with prosecutors that keeps him out of state prison.
Patterson, 32, entered the plea to one count of felony oral copulation with a child. A misdemeanor charge of annoying or molesting a student was dropped. Patterson will be sentenced at 9am Oct. 2.
According to Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Shapero, Patterson, a Hollister resident, could serve up to a year in Santa Clara County Jail and pay up to $50,000 in restitution. He could be placed on probation for up to five years, Shapero added, and a fine of up to $10,000 could be imposed.
The victim, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident and is not being identified by the Times because she is a minor, refused to comment when visited at her home after the court hearing. When asked if she thought Patterson’s plea strengthened her credibility, she said, “No one thought I was lying before.”
She and her mother granted an interview not long after the incident in November to the Times but have refused to comment further since the original conversation. During that interview, the mother said Patterson had “seduced” her daughter, and her daughter said she “could not believe” Patterson “had used me like that.”
Morgan Hill police Sgt. David Swing said detectives and officers put in a lot of time preparing the case.
“I’m satisfied with the end result,” he said Thursday afternoon. “We invested a lot of time in this case, our officers were very thorough. Detective Kevin Beilmann put together a solid case for the District Attorney’s Office.”
But there is a feeling of relief that the case will not go to trial, he added.
“It’s good to put this case to rest,” he said. “It’s good for the community, for the school community, also. Now they can look forward to this school year. There are a lot of good things happening for the school.”
Patterson’s attorney, Larry Biegel, said his client did not want to subject those closest to the case to the hardships of a trial.
“He wanted to eliminate the need for a trial that was sure to be very difficult for everyone,” Biegel said. “The justice system has a lot of different ways of working, inside or outside … What Jeff has done is forfeit his right to ever again be a teacher or a coach. He is not a candidate for lifetime (sex offender) registration, I don’t think anyone believes he is.”
Shapero said the question of sex offender registration will be considered at sentencing.
Biegel said Patterson did not want to comment.
“He has suffered from things that have happened both inside and outside the justice system,” Biegel said. “We wanted to alleviate the suffering and potential future suffering.”
Biegel said he was appreciative of the way the case was handled by Shapero and the District Attorney’s Office.
The case began in November of last year when the then-17-year-old Sobrato High School student told police she had a sexual encounter with Patterson. She said Patterson “urged” her to forge a note to get out of her sixth-period class on Nov. 4.
She said she left class, and Patterson then picked her up in his car as she waited on Burnett Avenue.
The girl’s father told police his daughter said Patterson then drove to the UPS store and afterwards to an empty parking lot at the intersection of two county roads and parked. The student then had oral sex with Patterson.
Patterson did not return to school after Nov. 9. He did not travel with the varsity football team to their last game of the season or attend the banquet for the varsity and junior varsity teams.
He was arrested April 3 after five months of investigation. When the warrant for his arrest was issued, Patterson’s attorney was notified, and Patterson turned himself in, then posted $10,000 bond, keeping him out of custody.
The Morgan Hill Police Department spent between 160 and 200 man hours on the investigation, which involved two detectives, two school resource officers, a detective sergeant, two patrol officers and occasionally administrators.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at
md****@mo*************.com
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