Former band director sentenced

Published 10:17 pm Tuesday, December 8, 2015

A former Colquitt County High band director was sentenced Monday to probation and ordered to surrender his teaching certificate after pleading guilty to sending sexually explicit text messages to a student.

Paul Joseph Guilbeau, 46, entered a guilty plea in Colquitt County Superior Court to a single count of hazing. 

 Judge James E. Hardy sentenced Guilbeau to 12 months’ probation and 40 hours’ community service. Hardy also ordered that the former educator, who had taught in Georgia schools for 20 years, surrender his teaching certificate nationwide and that he have no contact with the former student.

Hazing is a misdemeanor offense that carries a maximum sentence of up to a year in jail or a fine of $1,000 or both. In the plea form signed by Guilbeau he agreed to the Colquitt County District Attorney’s office accusation of sending inappropriate text messages “of a sexual nature” to a student in August 2012. 

Police and the girl’s mother, who testified at a public hearing with school officials, both described some of the messages as “sexually explicit.”

He had been indicted in March 2013 on two felony counts of sexual assault by a person who has supervisory or disciplinary authority over another.

That law prohibits school personnel from having sexual contact with any student who attends the same school at which the teacher or administrator is employed.  The law applies even when a student is 16 — the state’s age of sexual consent — or older at the time.

The girl with whom Guilbeau was accused of having consensual sex on two occasions on Aug. 10, 2012, was 17 at the time, according to police.

The sexual assault law also prohibits sexual contact between psychotherapists and their patients, as well as between any law enforcement officer — including jail and correctional officers at adult and juvenile facilities and parole and probation officers — and hospital employees with anyone in their care or custody.

A conviction under the felony statue carries a sentence of up to 25 years, a $10,000 fine, or both if the victim is 16 or older. The penalty increases to up to 50 years in prison for each offense if the victim is younger than 16. 

Police arrested Guilbeau six days after the day on which they said the two sexual encounters occurred at his hotel room.

That was the same day that the teen-age girl’s mother told police that she found a text message on the daughter’s phone that said “Good morning, my angel” as well as sexually explicit messages sent from the same number. There also was a photo of a girl in panties sent to the same phone number from which the messages to the girl originated.

That number matched Guilbeau’s cell phone, police said.

After meeting with the teen’s parents and the girl, police brought Guilbeau in for questioning and filed charges later in the day.

The Colquitt County School Board voted unanimously to fire the band director on Aug. 27, immediately after a hearing at which the girl and her mother both testified.

School officials said at the time that state and federal law enforcement checked Guilbeau’s past and he had a “clean record.” His arrest came a year to the day after he had signed a form acknowledging he understood the state’s guidelines on interactions with students, one section of which deals specifically with the prohibition of sexual contact.

Prior to coming to Colquitt County in 2011, Guilbeau had worked with bands at Valdosta City Schools from 1991 through 2003, at Glenn County High from 2003 through 2006, and at Northside High in Houston County from 2006 through 2011.

His salary in Colquitt County was $65,800 including base salary and supplements.

 The Observer could not reach Guilbeau’s lawyer, Moultrie attorney Joseph Weathers, on Tuesday afternoon.