CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa band teacher, facing sex charges in Marion County, has been given probation in a Floyd County sex abuse case.
On Monday 32-year-old Benjamin Thompson was fined $1,000 and given five years of probation and a suspended 10-year prison sentence. In January 2016 he’d pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he had a sexual relationship with the Charles City girl in May and July of 2011.
In Marion County, Thompson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee, for an alleged sexual relationship he had in the summer of 2014 with a now-graduated high school student. His next hearing there is set for April 15.
Thompson was assistant band director at Pella High School.