Betts
A former Franklin schools employee has been sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to having an inappropriate relationship with a former student eight years ago.
James “Eli” Betts, 43, of Franklin, was sentenced to six years on one count of child seduction by a child care worker, a Level 5 felony, in Johnson County Superior Court 2 on Thursday. He will spend 2.5 years of his sentence in prison, and 3.5 years will be suspended to probation. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.
Betts had previously pleaded guilty to the charge in May, and as part of his plea agreement, three other counts of child seduction by a child care worker were dismissed. The case was handled by a Morgan County prosecutor due to a conflict of interest in the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office.
A former Franklin Community High School student and track team member told school officials in March 2021 that Betts had seduced, fondled and forced her to have sex with him twice in 2014, when she was still a minor, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Johnson County Superior Court 2. The school fired Betts on April 5, 2021, according to a news release from Franklin Community Schools at the time.
Betts was an assistant coach for the Franklin Community High School girls and boys track teams from 2013-15. Betts resigned in January of 2015, but returned to the track coaching staff in February 2021, according to the news release.
The incidents occurred in May and July of 2014 when the victim was 16. The first incident occurred in May of 2014 in Betts’s car, and the second occurred in July 2014 at his house, according to court documents.
Betts continued to communicate with the victim after he resigned from the coaching position and after she graduated. The communication included inappropriate messages and sending nude photos via Snapchat, the victim told police.
The victim reported the abuse to Franklin Community Schools on March 25, 2021, and school officials say they immediately reported it to the Department of Child Services as required by state law. She said she came forward now because Betts had started coaching at the school again, and she didn’t want what happened to her to happen to anyone else, according to court documents.
When rehiring Betts, Franklin Community Schools followed the normal hiring process and protocols, including an expanded criminal history background check and child protection index search, as required by state law. The search did not turn up any conduct that would disqualify him from being a coach, the news release said.
Charges were filed on April 20, 2021, and a warrant was served two days later. Betts bonded out the same day.
Betts initially denied the allegations to police but eventually told them he knew he had crossed the line and detailed ways he had done so. Betts denies that he forced the victim to have intercourse, court documents show.
In court on Thursday, the victim told Judge Peter Nugent that Betts’ actions have made them feel isolated and that because they felt they had to keep a secret, they had to live a “life of secrecy and deception.” It felt like lying and acting had become a full-time job, they said.
They wanted to put what had happened behind them but after they found out he was teaching again, they felt compelled to speak out about what had happened. The victim wanted Betts to serve the maximum sentence allowed.
“It felt like I could never get away from what he had done to me,” the victim said.
Later, both Betts and his attorney, George Hoffman, told the court that Betts feels remorse and acknowledges that he failed his duty as a coach by having an inappropriate relationship with the victim. Hoffman later argued that Betts should be on home detention, because he has complied with the probation office, has sought treatment and created an action plan.
Betts told the judge that after the charges came out last year, he went into mental health treatment. During this treatment, Betts created an action plan that included avoiding being around children other than his own, he said.
A mental health professional has also found Betts was at low risk to re-offend, he said.
The defense also brought up several letters of support that had been submitted to the court on Betts’ behalf for the sentencing. The letters came from former co-workers, parents of students he had coached and family members. In the letters many people expressed support for Betts, Hoffman said, and a few of those people were in the audience during Thursday’s sentencing hearing.
Cassie Mellady, the special prosecutor from Morgan County assigned to the case, argued that Betts is a “master manipulator” who groomed the victim. The two built up a relationship over several years, during which Betts created opportunities for the victim and him to be alone and for him to gain their trust, Mellady said.
Parents send their children to school with the belief that they can trust school staff to take care of them. What Betts did violated that trust and will forever have an impact on the victim, she said.
Mellady also took issue with the timing of Betts’ treatment. The incidents had occurred several years earlier, but Betts had not gone into treatment until after the incident was publicized.
“He kept it to himself for years,” she said.
When rendering the sentence, Nugent said that while he agrees that Betts had a lack of criminal history and that he had a great support system, Betts’ actions will have a life-long impact on the victim. Saying Betts was a manipulator, Nugent told him actions and choices have consequences.
“As a teacher, there are absolute no-nos,” Nugent said. “… This is an absolute no-no.”
