)Katy, TX) Former band director receives deferred adjudication for inappropriate relationship with student
Catherine
Former band director receives deferred adjudication for inappropriate
relationship with student
<photo> Phillip Vassell
By Tracy Dang, Times Managing Editor
Published: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 9:32 PM CST
The former Katy High School assistant band director, who was accused
of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 16-year-old
student during the summer of 2008, was given deferred adjudication
Monday.
Phillip Vassell, 31, of Katy pled guilty in Harris County’s 339th
District Court. He was charged in February with two counts of sexual
assault of a child between the ages of 14-17, a second degree felony.
“It’s a five-year probation, basically, that will end on Nov. 29,
2014,” said George Flynn, a public information officer with the Harris
County District Attorney’s Office. “If he successfully serves the five
years of probation and adheres to the conditions and everything, it
wouldn’t reflect a conviction. Basically, it wouldn’t go down in his
record.”
Assistant district attorney Donna Hawkins said if Vassell does not
successfully adhere to the conditions and the deferred adjudication is
revoked, he could face up to the entire range of punishment, up to 10
years in prison.
In February, Vassell was accused of having sexual intercourse with a
16-year-old student at the La Quinta Inn at 15225 Katy Freeway several
times the previous summer.
“The school got a tip, and it was a matter of them investigating,”
prosecutor John Jordan told the Times in February.
“The principal brought the defendant into his office in November, and
he orally admitted he had had sexual relations with the complainant.
He also provided a handwritten statement that said, ‘I Phillip Vassell
was involved in a illegal relationship with a student.’”
During an interview with Katy ISD police, the student disclosed she
had been involved with Vassell at least four times.
“Even though the school was in Fort Bend County, the hotel was on
Highway 6 in Harris County,” Jordan said. “The police went to the
LaQuinta Inn and saw he had registered there four times, three times
in June and one time in July.”
The Katy Independent School District hired Vassell in 2006. He
resigned in November 2008.
Katy ISD Assistant Director of Communications Steve Stanford released
a statement Feb. 4, saying the district took immediate action after
the allegations were brought to its attention.
“Upon becoming aware on Nov. 10 (2008) of allegations that Vassell was
engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a student,
administrators responded by removing him from campus and placing him
on administrative leave,” the statement said.
“Vassell later resigned on his own on Nov. 13 (2008). The Katy ISD
Police Department has been actively investigating these allegations
and presented its evidence to the district attorney’s office earlier
today.”
Updated: Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 9:50 a.m.