Ex-Teacher Sentenced in Molestation Case
A former English teacher at the Gompers magnet school was sentenced Monday to three years of probation and 300 hours of community service for molesting children in his classroom.
Sidney J. Loveless Jr., who taught 19 years at Gompers Secondary School in Southeast San Diego, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor child molestation counts Sept. 7. He admitted that he “annoyed and molested” two girls between September, 1989, and April, 1990.
Loveless, 54, could have been sentenced to a maximum of two years in County Jail, but he avoided serving any time by negotiating a plea bargain that Municipal Judge Gale E. Kaneshiro said she was willing to follow.
Defense attorney Barry Levin said his client “has already been punished” because he has lost his career and pension, and “he will never teach again.”
Levin said Loveless spared victims the trauma of testifying in open court and that he was remorseful for what he had done.
Loveless was ordered not to associate with minors while on probation, and he will be required to register as a sex offender.
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