BENTONVILLE -- Barry Gebhart, former athletic director for the Fayetteville School District, received what the judge and a deputy prosecutor described as a lenient sentence Thursday.
Gebhart, 51, of Fayetteville pleaded guilty to sexual indecency with a child, a Class D felony. He originally was charged with Internet stalking of a child, but he agreed to plead to the lesser charge. The agreement was reached by Drew Miller, Gebhart's attorney, and Stuart Cearley, chief deputy prosecutor.
Circuit Judge Robin Green accepted the plea deal, but only after Cearley explained problems with the case. He told the judge the lead investigator failed to follow recommendations from prosecutors before Gebhart's arrest.
Gebhart was arrested Oct. 22 at Pinnacle Hills Promenade in Rogers after Benton County Sheriff's Office detectives arranged a meeting there. A detective pretending to be a 14-year-old girl communicated with Gebhart for several weeks, according to a probable cause affidavit. A detective saw a posting Gebhart made on Whisper, a social networking application.
The detective interacted with Gebhart, who said he was a teacher. Gebhart made several sexual comments, and sent several facial photographs and one of his penis to the detective who posed as the girl.
Gebhart admitted receiving nude photographs from girls, but he told detectives he immediately deleted the photographs, and started asking for non-nude photographs.
Cearley told Green the chats between Gebhart and the investigator were stored in the investigator's personal web cloud. Cearley didn't mention the investigator's name during the proceedings, but later identified him as Glenn Latham.
Latham failed to follow the input from prosecutors before arresting Gebhart, according to Cearley. Latham no longer works for the Sheriff's Office.
The plea agreement was an appropriate resolution of the case because Gebhart was convicted of a felony, and he must register as a sex offender, according to Cearley.
It would have been difficult, but a jury still could have found Gebhart guilty of Internet stalking, Cearley said.
Miller disagreed.
"I would win," Miller said. "Mr. Gebhart would win."
Miller told Green the plea deal struck a balance, and was the appropriate resolution.
Green reluctantly accepted the plea agreement, and she mentioned the breakdown in communication between the Sheriff's Office and prosecutors.
"I understand that the prosecutor's hands are tied," Green said.
Green accepted Gebhart's guilty plea.
Gebhart was sentenced to five years' state-supervised probation. He'll be required to register as a sex offender. Gebhart was ordered not to have any unsupervised contact with minors, except his biological children.
Gebhart accepted legal responsibility for his actions, but the investigation was flawed from the beginning, Miller said.
"I believe that Barry felt his options were limited based on perceptions formed early on in this case -- perceptions that turned out to be untrue," Miller said. "For Barry to continue challenging in the state's case would be to take uncontrollable risks that might affect his family forever. He understands that this plea will have little effect on public perception, and he is thankful for his family and friends who continue to stand by him and support him."
Gebhart was accompanied to court by his wife.
"He is grateful that his reputation among those who know him well has never changed, and he is thankful and blessed for his wife, Maridith," Miller said.
Miller agreed with Cearley's criticism of the case. He also voiced another criticism.
Miller said after the proceedings the photographs detectives used for the pretend teen girl were photographs of a 23- to 27-year-old woman who works in the Benton County Jail.
Cearley confirmed the photographs of a woman were used in the investigation.
Prosecutors weren't notified beforehand about Gebhart's arrest even though Cearley made the request, he said.
Prosecutors also didn't see the chats between Gebhart and Latham, who was pretending to be the girl, before Gebhart's arrest, Cearley said.
Latham declined to comment on the case.
Latham resigned from the Sheriff's Office earlier this year. The resignation wasn't related to Gebhart's investigation, according to Rob Holly, chief deputy of the Sheriff's Office.
"The cyber crimes investigations are new to our office, and the prosecutor's office, and we will continue to try to improve communications between the offices to make sure convictions are obtained in these cases," Holly said.
NW News on 09/26/2014