Local News in Brief : San Clemente : Teacher Is Convicted in Delinquency Case

A former San Clemente High School drama teacher was convicted Wednesday of five misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a 17-year-old girl who had been one of his students.

Municipal Court Judge Edward Laird found William G. Gekas, 40, guilty of keeping the girl out past curfew, furnishing her with alcohol and encouraging her to disobey her mother.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Marvin Stern called the conviction a “vindication of a lot of good, concerned parents in the San Clemente area.”

Gekas faces up to a year in jail and a $500 fine for each count. Sentencing was scheduled for April 21.

Gekas, of Newport Beach, was arrested in early January, 1987, by district attorney’s investigators.

This is not Gekas’ first run-in with the law. In March, 1986, Los Angeles investigators found a small amount of marijuana in Gekas’ waaterfront mobile home. Those charges were dismissed, but that decision is on appeal in Orange County Superior Court.

Last September, a subcommittee of the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing recommended that Gekas’ teaching license be revoked. Gekas is appealing that recommendation. He has been on paid leave from the Capistrano Unified School District.