A former substitute teacher for the Sweetwater Union High School District was sentenced Sept. 23 to one year in jail after earlier pleading guilty to having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl.
Martin Gallegos, 48, had been free on bond but was remanded to jail immediately after Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sontag sentenced him to terms of three years probation.
His projected release date was March 23, 2017, according to the sheriff’s department. Gallegos, who worked as an ROTC instructor at Mar Vista High School, remains in the South Bay Detention Facility without bail.
His attorney, Tom Warwick, asked for a sentence on work furlough that would allow him to remain free during the day to work but incarceration at night. Sontag denied his request. She also banned home detention.
Sontag also ordered Gallegos to stay away from the 11th grade girl for 10 years. She ordered Gallegos to pay $518 in restitution to the girl’s mother who had to buy a new cell phone after law enforcement seized it as evidence.
Credit for four days previously spent in jail was given and he was fined. He was not ordered to register as a sex offender. Two other sex charges involving the teen-ager were dismissed.
Awaiting sentencing is former assistant football coach, Edward Aaron Mendoza, 27, and Alejandro Rodriguez, 20, a tutor, who will both be sentenced Oct. 11 by Judge Garry Haehnle.
Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Matzger said Mendoza will be required to register for life, said Matzger. Mendoza pleaded guilty to committing three lewd acts with a 9th grade girl and to encouraging her to send him a photograph of a genital area.
Mendoza remains in jail, but Rodriguez is free on bond. Rodriguez pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a male student. Rodriguez worked as a tutor for another agency which provided services to the Sweetwater school district.
