Standing feet from the 27-year-old former teacher who repeatedly raped her last year, a teen girl told a Superior Court judge on Friday she regretted having reported the incidents because she feels it has hurt people.
The girl said she was initially happy the former High Road School of Delaware teacher, James L. Garfield, had taken an interest in her because few people had ever shown interest in her. Prosecutor Nichole Warner, however, said Garfield had “groomed the victim.”
“I wish that I never met him,” the girl said of Garfield, adding she still had feelings for him.
Garfield did not look at the child during her statement.
Following the girl’s statement, Judge Francis J. Jones Jr. sentenced Garfield to eight years in prison followed by several years on probation. Garfield, who was led away by Department of Correction officers, must also register as a sex offender.
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Garfield had been teaching at the school for students with significant behavioral and learning issues for less than two years when authorities said he began a sexual relationship with the girl who at the time was 15.
In July, the girl reported she was “having a sexual relationship with their teacher ‘Mr. James,’ ” according to New Castle County Police.
Garfield was identified by detectives as the teacher and the student positively identified him, police said. Evidence was recovered to corroborate the student’s claims.
Garfield was arrested at his Elsmere home that month and charged with two counts of third-degree rape with a victim under the age of 16 and two counts of felony sexual abuse of a child by a person of trust.
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In May, Garfield pleaded guilty to sex abuse and two counts of rape. In exchange for his plea, a single count of child abuse was dropped.
Before being sentenced, Garfield told the judge if he could speak to the girl, he would apologize to her.
“It just got out of hand,” he said at one point in his speech.
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.
