FLOYD COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ) – Earlier this year, a Floyd County School District employee was indicted on rape and sodomy charges. He entered guilty pleas Thursday to amended charges related to decades-old allegations.

John Martin, who worked for the district, was indicted by a grand jury in March on first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy after being accused of sexually assaulting a former student between 1995 and 1997.

The victim, a 17-year-old student at Garth Vocational High School, now known as the Floyd County Area Technology Center, shared a victim impact statement during Thursday’s sentencing, saying she endured years of abuse at the hands of Martin.

“I didn’t have a normal childhood. I was raped and raped for two years in the classroom, at school, with the lights off,” Absher said. “Mr. Martin was my history teacher for two years. It changed my life forever. “It changed my whole personality, my whole who I am.”

“I will now live the rest of my life with psychiatric problems such as rape and sodomy from a trusted and powerful person,” he said. “You stole my self-respect and destroyed it. Here I am, years later, broken, trying to rebuild what they took from me, and to make sure this never happens to anyone else. I felt so small and so dirty when you raped me, and I’m still trying to wash off the garbage you left on me.

After sharing her story, Judge Johnny Ray Harris asked the victim to confirm that the plea agreement reached was the agreement he agreed to during mediation. But he said he was told after mediation that he “must agree” to the charges being changed or the case would be “dismissed.”

Harris sought clarification from Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Melissa Goodman. “The laws are different now,” he said, and so the misdemeanor charge was brought to the table considering the age of the events because the state would not be able to prove the forcible compulsion element of the original charges or rape and sodomy. a testing environment.

Martin accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to sexual assault, and was sentenced to 12 months probation and no contact with the victim or minors for 24 months.

“If this happened today, you’d be spending several years in state prison,” Harris said.

The victim and his family said they were unhappy with the “slap on the wrist” and wanted Martin to be registered on the sex offenders register.

“I hope God can forgive you because I can’t,” the victim said.

On Thursday morning, Floyd County School District officials said Martin was still an employee, but they released a statement regarding the punishment Thursday afternoon:

“Floyd County Schools (FCS) is aware that a criminal complaint has been filed on behalf of a current FCS employee. The employee worked in an area where he had not had contact with students since the initial criminal complaint. Student safety is our number one priority.

In all matters related to the court’s decisions, FCS will fully comply with mandatory court orders after receiving finalization from the court. His employment with Floyd County Schools will be terminated effective immediately.

FCS remains focused on providing a safe, supportive and productive educational environment for all students, staff and community members.”

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