Ex-OSU captain pleads guilty to sexual battery of student
Monday, May 12, 2008
DAYTON — A suspended Northmont Middle School teacher and ex-Ohio State football star accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student pleaded guilty Monday, May 12, to three felony counts of sexual battery.
Jason Simmons, 37, entered the plea Monday afternoon before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman. Three other charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor were dropped in exchange.
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Wiseman set sentencing for 1 p.m. June 19. Simmons is free on bond until then.
Simmons faces up to five years in prison for each count and will be designated a Tier III Sex Offender, meaning he will have to report his address to the county sheriff for the rest of his life. He also faces permanent revocation of his Ohio Teaching License.
Simmons is currently on unpaid leave at Northmont, pending the outcome of the case, said Gale Mabry, superintendent.
Simmons and the girl had sex on at least three occasions in May and June 2007. The two developed a relationship after a school trip to Washington D.C., according to Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck, Jr.
"This defendant's actions are especially disturbing because, as parents, we entrust our children to teachers," Heck said. "This defendant, a popular teacher and coach, violated that trust and victimized a student."
Simmons had been free on bond after posting 10 percent of a $500,000 bond on July 20, days after he was arrested.
The investigation started about a week earlier, after Clayton police heard rumors of a sexual relationship between a student and a teacher at Northmont Middle School, police said
The investigation led police to question the 19-year-old female cousin of the alleged victim, and the cousin was able to gather enough information to justify search warrants for Simmons' home in Huber Heights and an apartment in Englewood where the girl lived.
Police said that Simmons had sexual intercourse with the girl three times in three different locations
Simmons, a former Ohio State University football captain, had been an intervention specialist, working with developmentally disabled students, at Northmont Middle School since 2004. He was also an assistant coach in football and track at Northmont High School.
District officials said some of Simmons' students were enrolled in a language arts class that the girl also attended during the 2006-07 school year. Another teacher was the main instructor in the class, and Simmons' job was to help his special-needs students complete the course work. He did not have direct responsibility for the girl.
Simmons' personnel file indicates he is married with children, taught in Fairborn before coming to Northmont, and was educated at Wright State and Ohio State universities. His personnel file indicated no problems.
Simmons played football at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School before going to OSU, where he was a four-year letterman and team captain his senior year in 1993, according to the Northmont football team's Web site. He was an original draft choice of the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995 and NFL-Europe Defensive Player of the Year in 1997 for the Scottish Claymores, according to the Web site.
